By William Madouk
Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM) is investigating recent fighting between the SSPDF and SPLA-IO in Rubkona County, Unity State.
On January 29, the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) clashed in Barkuor and Ngol villages, resulting in an incident where the governor, Dr. Joseph Manytuil, cheated death.
Opening the CTSAMVM technical committee (CTC) meeting on Thursday, the chairperson, Maj. Gen. Hailu Gonfa Edossa, stated investigations are being launched into the clash.
“As we all know, there was a fatal incident on January 29 in Rubkona County. CTSAMVM is investigating this and will report in due course,” said Edossa.
He called on the parties to refrain from inflammatory accusations, which could raise tension further.
Although there are no serious ceasefire violations apart from the recent Unity clashes, Mr. Edossa said they are probing a number of allegations, including harassment of civilians in Gondokoro during disarmament exercises.
Meanwhile, SPLM/A-IO representative at CTSAMVM, Maj. Gen. Andrea Mungu, said, “When we come to the violation of Unity state that is led by the Hon. Joseph Nguyen, the governor of Unity himself, it is an agony.”
“It shows that we are not willing to implement a peace agreement. Now, the man is leading war against IO in the cantonment site, especially in Ngol and then Barkuor; these two areas of IO are under war by the man,” he added.
Mungu lamented harassment against civilians in SPLM/A-IO-controlled areas, citing that “they have nothing to do with the IO. They are just there for their own way of surviving.”
But according to Maj. Gen. Rabi Emmanuel, an ITGONU representative, the army leadership would investigate Gondokoro, Unity State, and that of Gen. Simon Maguek and hold those violators accountable.
“The SSPDF command is aware of this and will form investigation committees to go and find out exactly what happened. As usual, measures will also be taken against the operators and those who caused these violations,” said Rabi.
Meanwhile, SSOA representative Maj. Gen. Jany Kaway said that when there are no clashes, a ceasefire is holding, but when there is an incident involving high-profile officials, the truce is broken.
“When there is an incident that takes place that involves high-ranking officials of the government, it means that the ceasefire has been broken,” noted Kaway.
“Coming to some violations, which my colleague speaks about in the unity state, we have to pay attention; we have to discuss this one and put it correctly because if the tension continues, then it will lead to the violation of the ceasefire,” he warned.