By Charles K Mark
Security situation in Nasir County, Upper Nile State remains tense following clashes between the youth and the SSPDF, last weekend.
Nasir County Commissioner, Mr. Duol Kun Thian, said about 5 youths who went fishing, clashed with SSPDF from Wechyar-Adiw Barracks.
The incident happened on Saturday, 10th February, at around 10:00 PM, according to the commissioner.
According to the commissioner, the situation remains tense in the area, with no idea what could happen next since both sides have lost lives and others have been injured.
“Civilians are being displaced, houses are burned, and properties are looted. There is an unconfirmed number of elderly and children drowning in the river,” he stated.
The county authority attributed the spark of the conflict to some soldiers who allegedly dressed up in SSPDF uniforms and carried guns before formal training.
Mr. Duol called for urgent deployment of well-trained unified forces to ease the fragile situation.
On Sunday, February 11th, at around 6:00 AM, another exchange of gunfire that lasted for at least two hours was witnessed in the area.
The commissioner alleged that some members of the SSPDF got out of their barracks again to attack civilians at Där-Wech Kuany-Lual-Thɔään.
“Unfortunately, Gatkhor Riek Bol from Dhuoreding Payam was intentionally shot four times; as a result, full confrontation between elements of the SSPDF and youth erupted and lasted for two hours,” he stated.
The commissioner said that one SSPDF soldier was also wounded during retaliation fire from the youth.
Army response
Meanwhile, SSPDF spokesperson Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang said the area commander in Nasir has been in constant touch with the county authorities on how to stabilize the situation.
He said there was no motive behind the misunderstanding between the two elements that had gone fishing (the four or five SSPDF men and the youth).
The spokesperson termed the incident a misunderstanding over resources—fisheries in this case.
“So the response that the command of the SSPDF took was that we have formed high-level committees headed by Lieutenant General James Kang Paul,” Lul revealed.
According to him, the joint committee is set to travel to Nasir today, Tuesday, to carry out a thorough investigation and retrieve findings on what transpired in the events.
The SSPDF leadership is interested in treating the incidents as isolated and not planned or driven under their command.
“It was kind of a spontaneous problem. So, the good thing is that it was not planned, it had no political motive, and it was not a fight between the SSPDF and our peace partners at the SPLM-IO. That’s the most important thing,” the spokesperson clarified.
The Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) earlier condemned the fighting between armed civilians and the South Sudan Defense People’s Forces (SSPDF).
“This is an unacceptable act from the SSPDF, and the leadership of the SSPDF should take serious measures against the misconduct and indiscipline behaviours of some of the SSPDF soldiers and their leaders,” Yakani echoed.
“SSPDF’s aggressive behaviours towards the civil population recently are rising, and it requires an urgent response by the leadership of the country and that of the military,” he added.