By Yien Gattuor
At least six people have reportedly been killed and one wounded in renewed violence against peacekeeping members of the delegation to Wunkur County in Ruweng Administrative Area.
Sudan People Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) force in Wunkur County reportedly waged the attack.
However, the identities of the deceased are unknown.
Ruweng Administrative Area government spokeswoman, Sarah Akuot, confirmed the incident to the No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper.
She said six people were killed and one person was wounded on the side of a peace delegate who visited Wunkur County on Saturday, and they were attacked.
“We only recorded six people dead and another one wounded in the first attack at Wunkur,” she said.
“We never heard any dead or wounded from the side of SPLA-IO. This is very sad news as it violates the cessation of hostilities agreement.”
According to Akuot, a serious monitoring of the peace implementation would prevent further violence.
Ruweng Administrative Area government condemned the killing of six civilians allegedly by the SPLA-IO of Dr. Riek Machar.
Wunkur County has been the base of SPLA-IO since the beginning of the conflict in 2013 until now.
Members of the peace delegation were sent by the chairperson of peace commission in Ruweng Administrative to disseminate peace messages.
“We need the SPLA-IO, who participated in the killing of the six civilians and wounding of one person, to be brought to book,” Akuot said.
Meanwhile, Lam Paul Gabriel, The SPLA-IO spokesperson, said they are fully aware of the fighting that took place on Saturday between the SPLA-IO force and the SSPDF.
“The SSPDF launched an attack against our forces at Wunkur County last week,” he said.
Col. Lam, the gun battle started when an SSPDF soldiers travelling in a car from Ruweng Administrative Area to Wunkur County were asked by SPLA-IO base command and failed to respond to the question.
“Our commander told them that you need to come with a document letter from county local authorities to identify that you are from Ruweng Administration, as this is SPLA-IO controlled area,” Paul explained.
The SPLA-IO spokesperson clarified that the six people killed, including the wounded person, are not civilians but SSPDF Soldiers.
“Six people have been confirmed dead and one wounded from the side of SSPDF Soldiers,” Col. Lam stated.