SPLM-IO denies detention of senior officers in Gambella
Article
Comments (0)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
facebookmyspacetwitterbuzzyahoo
February 6, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – Officials of the armed opposition
faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) have
denied allegations that a number of their senior officers have been
kept in detention by the Ethiopian authorities.
JPEG - 27.2 kb
Jewi Refugee Camp, Gambella region, Ethiopia, July 6, 2015, (ST Photo)
A statement released from the South Sudanese government Embassy in
Washington on Saturday said that senior SPLA-IO officials were
arrested per an order from the Ethiopian army chief of staff, General
Samora Mitchel.
“The Chief-of-Staff of the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF),
Gen. Samora Mitchel, ordered the arrest of the SPLM-IO members because
they were being suspected of arming the Nuer and Anyuak youth who
clashed on January, 26,” partly reads a statement extended to Sudan
Tribune by Gordon Buay, a South Sudanese ambassador based in
Washington.
“The Government of the Republic of South Sudan, through South Sudan
Embassy in Addis Ababa, requested the Ethiopian Government to deport
the SPLM-IO military officers and cadres to Juba. Our Government
pleaded to Ethiopian Government to deport them to Juba in the interest
of the implementation of the Compromised Peace Agreement mediated and
signed in Ethiopia,” further says the statement.
Buay said the Ethiopian government was alarmed with the spread of
fighting across the Gambella region where Anyuak and Nuer civil
servants residing either in Anyuak or Nuer territories were all
killed.
He further alleged that given the fact that the Ethiopian government
disarmed the civil population of Gambella in the past, it was
established by the Ethiopian Military Intelligence that the SPLM-IO
led by former Vice-president, Riek Machar sold weapons and ammunition
to both Nuer and Anyuak youth.
“The influx of thousands of Nuer White Army in Gambella as refugees
led to the availability of weapons and ammunition to Nuer and Anyuak
of Ethiopia,” the statement further claimed.
He said as a result of the investigation to the source of weapons, the
Ethiopian government ordered the arrest of the senior SPLM-IO military
and political cadres.
The officers arrested and under detention in Gambella prison,
according to the statement, included Lt. Gen. Thomas Mabor Dhol, Major
General Khor Chuol Giet,Major General Yie Dak, Brig. General Wang
Chaany, Brig. General Pal Yiech, Brig. General Peter Lim Bol, Liaison
officer James Bang Hoth, Major Peter Jak Kuon, Capt. Gatdet Both,
Capt. Beach Bang, Major Dagai Pathot, Major Lual Nyarew, Ding Lam Yual
and 1st Lt. Anter Chuol.
“It is the position of the Government of South Sudan that the arrested
members of the SPLM-IO should not be kept in jail in Gambella because
they are part of the Movement that signed peace with the Government of
South Sudan. Therefore, the Government of South Sudan is in a position
to receive the SPLM-IO officers and political cadres after they are
deported to Juba for violating the laws of Ethiopia,” added Ambassador
Buay.
He added that the government of South Sudan was awaiting for formal
response from the ministry of foreign affairs of Ethiopia to deport
SPLM-IO officers and cadres to Juba. He added they received informal
assurances that they would be “deported to Juba next week.”
However, the official spokesman of the opposition leader, James Gatdet
Dak, dismissed the narrative from the government as a negative
propaganda.
“The narrative from the government is a negative propaganda. We don’t
have officers under detention in Gambella as we speak,” Dak told Sudan
Tribune on Saturday evening.
He however said a number of officers who came to Gambella from Pagak
for medical attention were advised by the Ethiopian authorities to
return to Pagak for their safety due to the ongoing unrest in Gambella
between Nuer and Anyuak.
“They have all returned to Pagak today [Saturday]. Nobody is being
detained as alleged,” he added.
He also dismissed as “desperate propaganda” the allegation from the
government’s senior diplomat that the SPLM-IO was arming the Nuer
citizens in Gambella region and that thousands of members of the White
Army (local Nuer fighters in South Sudan) have come to Gambella to
destabilize the region.
This accusation by the government came a week after clashes involving
Ethiopian Nuer and Anyuak population in Gambella left dozens dead,
displacing the Anyuak population from the town centre.
The clashes occurred when an Anyuak man threw a hand grenade at Nuer
college students in an area of predominantly of Anyuak population.
(ST)
--
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/southsudankob
View this message at
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/southsudankob/topic-id/message-id
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"South Sudan Info - The Kob" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14orci%2BaR44H8QqEWH5%3DUxSgkmnpApeek2BL-jbD6K5gTmQ%40mail.gmail.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
