Members of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) on Tuesday called for an urgent solution to the encroachment of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) into South Sudan territories, especially in Eastern Equatoria and Central Equatoria states.
On Sunday, the UPDF moved into Kajo-Keji County in Central Equatoria State and reportedly detained flogged and six South Sudanese for allegedly being on Uganda soil illegally.
Speaking during the parliamentary sitting on Tuesday, John Agany Deng, an SPLM lawmaker representing Aweil East County in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, accused the Ugandan army of intruding into South Sudan territory and killing 17 people in Kajo-Keji County.
“Our territories are being encroached every day. In the last motion which was raised by our member here, it was resolved that a committee has to be formed to fact-check. By the way, every day, the insecurity is increasing in that part of South Sudan,” he said. “Every day the insecurity is increasing in that part of South Sudan and we should not be keeping quiet. Last week about 17 people were killed and 7 of those victims were women. Why should Uganda turn against us when we have a long history with them?”
Agany stressed the need to protect the territorial integrity of South Sudan.
“We even removed the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), I was part of that, and the peace they are enjoying was created by us for them, so, why should they at this time make South Sudan a country which should be laughed at?” he charged.
On 26 June, three SSPDF soldiers were arrested by Ugandan troops in the Owinykibul area along the common border and have since been detained in Uganda’s Lamwo District. According to the SSPDF, the soldiers were intercepted by the UPDF while patrolling along the border.
The UPDF allegedly then encroached into South Sudanese territory, established a military base, and started harassing farmers along the border, creating fear and panic among citizens.
Agany said the whereabouts and the fate of three SSPDF soldiers are still not clear.
“In the last few weeks, we have learned that our three great personnel were captured by the Ugandan army, people talk of detention but nobody saw them, so we do not even know whether they are alive or killed,” he stated. “We should not keep quiet when we are being interfered with. I am raising this as a concerned citizen. If that committee is reconstituted or not, let us revise it and make it active. Uganda has to be reminded that when it comes to our defense, we have to defend the territorial position of South Sudan.”
For his part, Juol Nhomngek Daniel, a legislator representing Cueibet County, Lakes State, said Uganda is provoking South Sudan by intruding into its territorial integrity.
“That one is provocation itself when they come into the country to the extent of arresting the members of the national army,” he said. “It is a provocation because Uganda seems to be provoking us and the problem why South Sudan is not ready to fight back is because it has its internal problems and not because they have given up on those territories.”
Meanwhile, TNLA Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba directed John Agany to write a motion on the issue so that the relevant ministries can be summoned to the August House.
“The issue of the border is very important, however, South Sudan’s foreign policy demands peaceful resolutions to issues of conflict,” she asserted. “We shall discuss very well when the ministers are summoned.”
In 2016, a joint border committee was formed at the national government levels of Uganda and South Sudan to resolve the border dispute between the two countries. However, it is not clear how the process ended.
The committee was supposed to consult the communities along the common border followed by a process of border demarcation by a team of surveyors in the presence of the 18-member committee.