South Sudan’s chief of defense forces, Gen. Paul Nang Majok, arrived in Nasir on Monday morning, a day after government troops retook the strategic town near the Ethiopian border from the White Army, a loose band of armed Nuer youths.
President Salva Kiir’s allies accuse First Vice President Riek Machar’s forces of collaborating with the White Army to incite unrest in Nasir.
On March 4, White Army fighters overran a South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) base in Nasir, killing a senior general and several soldiers.
During his visit to Nasir on Monday, Majok was accompanied by Gen. Kong Thou, the SSPDF commander who led the recapture of Nasir, assistant chief of defense forces for disarmament, Gen. Johnson Olony, and other senior officers.
Addressing troops in Nasir, Gen. Majok praised them as “heroic and courageous,” saying they had sacrificed to secure the town’s freedom.
“The president of the republic and the commander in chief has sent his greetings… I am with you in Nasir and I have been monitoring your movement since you started to advance,” Majok told soldiers.
“You have given a big gift to the people of South Sudan. We lost Gen. David Majur Dak, we lost our forces and we lost our base, but now you have managed to enter Nasir,” he added.
The army chief said the White Army had been “wiped out,” with remaining fighters to be pursued. He urged SPLA forces to surrender their weapons and report to training camps under the peace deal’s security provisions.
Majok labeled the White Army a “terrorist organization and outlaws” and called on residents of Nasir to return weapons seized from SSPDF troops.
“We want our artillery, vehicles and other weapons back,” he said.
He warned against further clashes and urged community leaders in Nasir to help displaced civilians return home.
Kiir and Machar’s 2018 peace deal has nearly collapsed amid recent violence.
Machar was placed under house arrest on March 26, while clashes nationwide have killed nearly 200 people and displaced 125,000 since March, according to the U.N.
Human Rights Watch accused the army of using improvised incendiary devices in Upper Nile state, killing nearly 60 people over a month.