South Sudan army chief discourages desertions during Nasser visit
Gen. Paul Malong Awan, chief of staff of South Sudan’s army (SPLA), sought to address morale issues during a visit to Nasser in Upper Nile state earlier this week soon after some soldiers in the area reportedly began to abandon their posts after not receiving their salaries.
The army chief visited the town on Monday in the company of Lt. Gen. Ajongo, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, and Lt. Gen. Johnson Gony Biliu, Sector II Commander.
Nasser was a rebel stronghold during the first four and half months of the civil war that started in December, after key military leaders and politicians from the area defected to SPLM-IO.
But the town has been held by government troops since 4 May, after an army offensive that forced rebels to withdraw to outlying areas and pushed tens of thousands of refugees into Ethiopia.
Rainy season conditions of roads and airstrips have since complicated the military’s efforts to supply forces occupying the former rebel stronghold, amid mass desertions from army units in neighboring Jonglei to the south.
It was reported on Saturday that some army troops had begun deserting their positions around Nasser ahead of the arrival of an SPLA delegation from General Headquarters with the aim of addressing the situation.
The following day the military spokesman of SPLM-IO, Lul Ruai Koang, claimed that rebel troops occupied positions abandoned by the army and collected some equipment abandoned by the deserters during their withdrawal.
He claimed this included one T-72 Tank, one Armored Personnel Carrier, and seven other vehicles: “The equipment were abandoned at Guom village some 24km north of Nasir by government troops deserting defensive positions.”
“A few loyalist troops estimated at 500 are still holed up in trenches northeast of Nasir,” said Lul Ruai.
He added, “Insiders say the latest wave of desertions were prompted by salaries delays, lack of reinforcements, and food rations.”
Gordon Buay, a former SSLA rebel spokesperson now aligned to the government, who hails from Upper Nile, said that the army chief of staff was received in Nasser by County Commissioner Dak Tap and the area commander Brig. Gen. Kong Thow Kong.
He said that the army chief met not only with his commanders but also with Jikany Nuer chiefs and leaders, whom he briefed on the Addis Ababa peace talks.
Malong also expressed gratitude to the state governor Simon Kun Puoc, himself a Nuer from Nasser, for convincing the leaders of Jikany ‘white army’ and chiefs to reject rebellion and work for peace, according to Buay.
Photo: SPLA Chief of Staff Paul Malong salutes President Salva Kiir at Juba Airport, 12 June 2014
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