Vice President of South Sudan James Wani Igga has called on the rebel leader David Yau Yau to accept the presidential offer of amnesty.
The president earlier this year extended an offer of amnesty to several rebel commanders, many of whom accepted. Yau Yau did not.
Yau Yau’s force of mainly Murle fighters from Pibor County has been implicated in numerous attacks against the Lou Nuer and Bor Dinka tribes of Jonglei.
“David Yau Yau and his forces are here once more asked to respond to the recent presidential general amnesty,” Igga was quoted by Radio Tamazuj as saying at a press conference today in Juba.
His offer comes the day after SPLA lost a key town in Jonglei, Bor, to a militia led by a Nuer general, Peter Gadet.
“Our people in Pibor have been deprived of food and services since the Yau Yau rebellion began,” the vice president said. “They need food, they need medicines, they need education, they need water, and other basic needs.”
“For any of this to happen, peace must prevail, tranquility must be cemented,” he said. In later comments in Arabic he reiterated, “We want Yau Yau to answer the amnesty.”
He also repeated the willingness of the government to start negotiations with Riek Machar, but elaborated at length on Machar’s role in an attempted coup.
Igga also admitted that the town of Bor was captured by the troops of Peter Gadet, commander of the Division 8 outside Bor, the capital of Jonglei. He defected together with reportedly thousands of forces and attacked the town. But James Wani Igga he predicted that the town will be taken back soon.
Jonglei is a critical area for President Salva Kiir and his control over the state is now in question. Besides being a stronghold of the Yau Yau group and the predominantly Nuer troops now holding the capital Bor, it is also the home state of many of the so-called ‘coup’ ringleaders, including former minister of Justice John Luk, former deputy minister of Defense Majak d’Agoot, and former interior minister Gier Chuang, as well as Rebecca Garang, the widow of John Garang, who is under house arrest.
Eastern Equatoria
Machar loyalists from a base in Eastern Equatoria have defected and moved toward Jonglei, according to the vice president.
In remarks at the same press conference he admitted that there was a brief clash at a base in Liria but denied that there was any significant fighting in the state.
“The situation in Eastern Equatoria is calm, except in Liria, where some officers, followers of Riek, shot a few of their (bullets) and then pulled out. So they have run after Dr. Riek,” he explained.
Radio Tamazuj also reported today that the military base Mogiri 1 on the Juba-Torit road was attacked by unknown forces last night. A soldier reported that his battalion was scattered and gathered later during the night in Khor Angareib.
File photo: Vice President James Wani Igga