A group calling itself Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) Party Senior Representatives in Jonglei State said two of its members were arrested in the state capital, Bor town on Wednesday last week for allegedly demanding the removal of the state party leader and deputy governor Antipas Nyok Kucha.

On July 24, the group petitioned the national chairperson of the SPLM party, President Salva Kiir, to sack the state party leader over alleged incompetence and incitement. 

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday afternoon, Gabriel Deng Ajak, the group’s representative, said two of his colleagues are being detained at the Bor main prison since Wednesday last week without charges. 

“These two people arrested are among the 17 people who signed the petition on July 24. They were not arrested because they are members of organized forces. They have been active in politics for 15 years. Why would they be arrested today?” Deng asked. 

He accused the state party leadership of ordering the arrest. 

“They were arrested on the directive of the deputy governor. Antipas Nyok has also appointed active members of the organized forces to the SPLM secretariat. So, the people they appointed are the ones involved in politics. But these two arrested people are simply expressing their opinions,” he said.

The former RRC director Ajak revealed that the two politicians under detention currently include Anyieth Makuei Anyieth, known as Gun Jamuth, and Mary Dook also known as Mama Jonglei.

Major-General Joseph Mayen Akoon, the state police commissioner, and his spokesperson Majak Daniel Tuor declined to comment, saying they cannot talk on political issues. 

For his part, Deng Ajang Duot, the state SPLM party Secretary-General, denied his party involvement in the arrest, saying the arrest was not done on political grounds. 

“We are not arresting anybody and we have not been arresting anybody. What happened there are members of organized forces who claimed to be politicians? They are being questioned by their unit so as to when they became politicians. So, what is happening is between those two individuals and their units, not SPLM,” he said.