Map of South Sudan where fighting has taken place between SPLA forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those aligned with Riek Machar., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
FRIDAY 7 MARCH 2014
S. Sudanese security seize UN weapons in Lakes state
March 6, 2014 (RUMBEK) - Security officials in South Sudan’s Lakes state claimed they intercepted 11 United Nations trucks ferrying an assortment of firearms and military uniforms destined for neighbouring Unity state.
Authorities, claiming the items were being transported allegedly to aid rebels fighting in Unity state, have now instituted an investigation into the matter.
"There were all type of weapons, ammunition and blankets. Those items were on route to Unity state and rebel the controlled areas," a senior military official told Sudan Tribune, without further details.
UN ORDERS PROBE
The world body, in a statement, said the seized cargo were meant for its Ghanaian peacekeepers recently deployed as additional forces in the country following the mid-December outbreak of violence.
"In connection with the transport of cargo of general goods belonging to the Ghanaian battalion on its way to Bentiu, several containers were wrongly labelled and inadvertently contained weapons and ammunition This is regrettable," partly reads its statement issued Thursday.
"It is the policy of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) that during the crisis in South Sudan all arms and ammunition for peacekeeping contingents are flown into respective areas of deployment and not taken by road. This is an important security measure."
The UN, however said, its headquarter intends to dispatch a high level investigation team to look into this matter on an urgent basis, in cooperation with South Sudan government.
(ST)
FRIDAY 7 MARCH 2014
Warrap officials split over minister’s resignation
February 6, 2014 (JUBA) - Officials in South Sudan’s Warrap state are reportedly divided following last month’s resignation of its information minister over alleged links to the country’s rebels.
Critics and some officials have accused Governor Nyandeng Malek Dieliech of allegedly influencing activities that led to Nyanaguek Kuol Mareng’s exit.
“What happened was just a revelation of a tip of an iceberg. I mean the resignation of information minister is the result of the exposure of the big scheme. You know that the event in Juba took place the same day governor Nyandeng travelled to Nairobi, Kenya, without permission from the president. And nobody knows what she went for," a senior member of the ruling party (SPLM) in Warrap told Sudan Tribune.
"Before that, she met the former vice president Riek Machar after he and his group conducted their press conference in Juba on December 6th. She also met other people, including Chol Tong Mayay, former governor of Lakes state. Nobody knows the details of what they actually discussed in these meetings, but there are evidences she met these people," he added on Thursday.
The official, a close and longtime associate of President Salva Kiir, warned that things would never be the same, unless the latter “shakes off the dust on his shoulder”.
“Precisely, this is what I am saying. The president is being buried by the same people who come around claiming to be serving our people and the country under his leadership, while they are doing things contrary to their claims.There is no way someone under your leadership would go out to say things you do not approve and expected to be treated differently, especially if you remained quiet," he stressed.
"Who knows, the information minister might have been speaking for her boss, otherwise there would have nothing which prevented her from dismissing her before," he added.
However, several officials closely associated with Nyandeng have denied claims linking the governor to opposition forces loyal for ex-vice president Riek Machar, while others blamed her opponent for allegedly working to bring her down.
“There is nothing as such. These accusations are just rubbish. There are people working days and nights to see into that Governor Nyandeng is unconstitutionally removed but this will not work. They need to know this governor was democratically elected by the people of Warrap," a cabinet minister told Sudan Tribune by phone from the state capital, Kwajok.
These are the very people who would evaluate her performance, not individual politicians, added the minister.
A legislator close to the state administration also dismissed allegations that the governor had played a role supportive to the activities of the former information, who on several occassion spoke on the state radio denying government’s version the the mid-December outbreak of violence was an attempted coup by Machar and group.
“It is wrong to accuse the person for the sake of it. The governor is part of the government the rebel wanted to topple through violence so that they install their own. Would it make sense if the government in which you served is toppled and expect different treatment? I have never heard before," the legislator told Sudan Tribune.
What is happening in Warrap is just political rivalry and it is better you in the media approach it with objectivity so that you are not seen as taking side," he added.
(ST)
FRIDAY 7 MARCH 2014
S. Sudanese army denies allegations of killing foreigners habouring Nuers
March 06, 2014 (JUBA) - The South Sudanese army (SPLA) has described allegations its forces killed foreign nationals harbouring members of the Nuer tribe, the country’s second largest ethnic group, as “unfounded”.
The allegations emerged in the wake of Wednesday’s outbreak of violence at Geida, a military barracks south-west of the capital, Juba, following a dispute among soldiers over salary payments.
“What happened yesterday (Wednesday) as I have said before was limited to shooting between limited individual soldiers in a limited place. It did not go beyond the military barracks. So it is not correct that some soldiers went out to hunt from members of [the] Nuer [group] and killed foreign nationals,” said Malaak Ayuen, the army’s head of information and public relations, told reporters on Thursday, adding the claims were unacceptable propaganda”.
Ayuen said the army regretted the sporadic shooting which later followed overnight on Wednesday, saying some of the gunshots heard were in fact the denotation of unexploded ordinances, while he described another similar incident in Thongpiny as an alleged misunderstanding between security forces.
However, in a series of interviews with Sudan Tribune on Thursday, residents said that more than 12 civilians, including a six-year-old boy, were shot dead in both accidental and targeted killings during the skirmishes that occurred around the military facility.
The clashes were reportedly triggered when the army’s payment committee restricted payments to its actively serving members present on duty, excluding those who fled to UN camps for safety reasons in mid-December last year after political tensions erupted in violence.
It’s alleged the soldiers, branded deserters by the army, turned violent after becoming angry over salary their arrears.
Three civilians were shot dead by soldiers at Nyakuron, a residential neighbourhood close to the barracks, which witnessed the genesis of the mid-December outbreak of conflict.
“Two government soldiers in full military attires with guns came to the compound and demanded they be shown where Nuer lives. It [was] like they knew that some Nuer were living in this compound, but we all kept quiet. We did not talk, but they kept asking, ‘Where is the Nuer [that] lives here?’ They kept asking, then one Ethiopian national, a man, also living in the same compound, replied that the Nuer residents had gone away two days ago. They accused him of lying and immediately shot him dead and then went into the house where two Nuer members were reportedly hiding and shot them dead,” an eyewitness told Sudan Tribune on Thursday.
Another resident claimed two Ugandans living in Jabarona and five Somalis residing in the Gudule area died in Wednesday night’s shoot-out, while a South Sudanese national was also reportedly ahit by stray bullets in Jabarona market area.
The army has put the official death toll at 25, although the actual number of people killed remains unclear. Civilian and military ambulances were seen moving around the town with their sirens blaring. Government soldiers continued to patrol streets on Thursday, with several roadblocks set up in key strategic areas and installations.
(ST)
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