By Tereza Jeremiah Chuei
The Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) has again accused the Agwelek forces under Commander Johnson Olony of attacking its forces in Atar of Pigi County of Jonglei State.
Earlier, the SPLA-IO had also accused Agwelek forces of attacking its Area in Diel and Atar of Pigi County in Jonglei State.
However, this was letter disputed by the Agwelek forces head of advance team in Juba Paul Achut Nyibek saying that their forces haven’t gone that far.
On the same note, the Atar community later came out and condemned the Agwelek forces of attacking their civilians, which led to the displacement.
The Atar Community also stated that, the 2013 and 2016 war had displaced their civilian, adding that they have just come back to resettle after number of years staying away from their area then another attack on their civilians, forcing them to flee again.
Meanwhile, SPLA-IO Spokesperson Col. Lam Paul Gabriel reported fresh clashes on their forces in the Atar area on Thursday.
He also said that the area attacked by the Agwelek forces had civilians in it, but didn’t report any casualties if there was any.
Lam stated that it’s the responsibility of the Agwelek too, to protect the civilians, citing that the responsibility shouldn’t be left to SPLA-IO alone. The SPLA-IO spokesperson stressed that it’s a challenge now seeing Agwelek forces attacking the same civilians they should have protected.
“Yesterday the 29th/09/2022 at about 10:30am, the negative forces of Kitgwang cowardly carried out random and indiscriminate shelling against the SPLA-IO position of Atar Ardeb and the surrounding villages where civilians settled causing panic and further civilians’ displacement in Upper Nile State,” he wrote in a press release seen by No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper.
“It should be clearly noted that the Kitgwang faction signed a defection Agreement with the SPLM-IG making them part and partial of R-ARCSS. Therefore, their continuous attacks against the SPLA-IO positions and also their free movement to and fro IG controlled areas shows an intention to destabilize Upper Nile State in particular and South Sudan at large,” he continued.
Col. Lam however noted that SPLA-IO is currently focused on graduation of the unified forces and preparation for phase two (2) of the Transitional Security Arrangement.
“What’s happening in Upper Nile State is a communal violence with the aim of destroying the SPLA-IO and reducing the powers of Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon,” he exclaimed.
He questioned the reason as to why the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) is basically not controlling the movements of the Agwelek forces, since they had signed an Agreement with them.
South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) Spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai had earlier revealed that the Agwelek forces are not yet in their full command.
Meanwhile, Paul Achut Nyibekthe head of Agwelek advance team in Juba couldn’t be reached by press time for comment on the accusation of the attack allegedly by Gen. Johnson Olony’s military camp on SPLA-IO areas of control.