A top SPLA-IO commander says he wants his movement to command a separate army for two and a half years even after a peace deal, stressing the South Sudanese president is too divisive to command their forces.
This position echoes earlier resolutions by the rebel faction demonstrating opposition to reintegration into a united national army.
James Koang Chuol in an interview over phone from an undisclosed location in Upper Nile State said president Salva Kiir and his close allies were accountable for the ethnic cleansing carried out in the nation’s capital from 16-19 December 2013.
The rebel commander said it would be difficult to once again restore peace and trust among the people of the country. For this reason the commander insisted there must be two separate armies in South Sudan.
He also reiterated the long-held rebel demand that their leader Riek Machar become the ‘executive prime minister’ of the country.
Chuol emphasized that the government is responsible to meet their demands and bring peace in the country because they were the ones who created the conflict in mid December 2013, after seeking a military solution for an internal political crisis in the ruling party.
“I think the government is the one to bring peace in South Sudan because they are the ones starting the war telling people rubbish, exaggerating the situation that there was a coup and then they have to explain it, they have to bring peace – it is not our side but the side of the government is the one to bring peace,” said the commander.
He urged the government to reconsider the conditions set by the rebels’ leadership at the Pagak conference in December last year.