Philip Aguer, South Sudan’s army spokesman, said yesterday that an armed group on horseback, allegedly linked to the Sudanese military, killed three people in an attack on the disputed border area of Kiir Adem.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Aguer reported that the attack took place yesterday and a policeman was amongst the victims.  The South Sudanese government considers Kiir Adem to be part of its Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state.

Given that both Sudan and South Sudan have withdrawn their armies from the border area in order to create demilitarized zones, Aguer claimed that the attack must have been with the assistance of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF).

“They carried out attack on citizens while riding horses and killed two civilians and a policeman. According to us, any armed person from the republic of Sudan is linked and have a relations with Sudanese forces where the Mujahideen or popular defence forces or even militias of Baggara and Reizegat because they got the guns from SAF,” Aguer claimed before adding that the attack constitutes a violation of the demilitarisation agreement.

“We have raised a complaint to UNISFA forces and African Union forces over what happened in Kiir Adem … The same violation also happened in the Renk area of Adham where elements of the Sudanese forces appeared with three vehicles loaded with heavy guns machines and opened fire in the space,” added the spokesman.

Both countries have been accused of supporting proxy rebel groups and militias in the other.  Earlier this month they began to implement an agreement on security and demilitarisation of the border area from September last year following months of increasing tension and border skirmishes.

Photo: Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state (Wikipedia)