Taban Deng’s SPLA-IO faction calls for release of detained officials in Bieh
South Sudan’s armed opposition faction (SPLM-IO) loyal to First Vice-President, Taban Deng Gai, has issued a statement confirming the capture and detention of government officials in Bieh state. The number of the officials captured remains unclear. Rebel officials said they had captured 25 soldiers and a county commissioner while the pro-government faction mentioned 14 people only. Dickson Gatluak Jock, military spokesman for South Sudanese Vice President Taban Deng Gai, said a faction allied to the former first vice president Riek Machar in the area had intercepted and ambushed 14 peace delegates to Akobo. “SPLA-IO is calling for the unconditional release of 14 members of peace mission delegates who went to Akobo purposely to embrace and disseminate peace messages. These persons are not for military mission but civil administrators who are there on the ground for peace,” said Dickson Gatluak in a statement released to the public on Friday. He added, “We urge the local authority specially the youth from greater Akobo to guarantee the safety of the detainees. These individuals must be treated as peace makers, not prisoners of war (POW).” The opposition faction allied to Riek Machar said about 25 government soldiers and a county commissioner of Dengjok were captured in Akobo area on Wednesday. -- To post to this group, send email to southsudankob@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to southsudankob+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com 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 southsudankob+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to SouthSudanKob@googlegroups.com. 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/CAJb14oo2nN5xnENM8GZ07unaXj%2BQ2T4zeCKr7cahRqEiG%2BnVUQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
