The Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) troops who control Wath-Lel, Jur River County, in Western Bahr el Ghazal State on Tuesday disputed the Episcopalian Church of South Sudan (ECSS) claim last week that its evangelists were arrested and tortured by the SPLA-IO commander there.
Last Saturday, the Western Bahr el Ghazal State Episcopalian Church Archdeacon Arkangelo Ungang said 17 of his members, including three pastors, were arrested and tortured by the opposition forces in Wath-Lel.
One of the pastors who was a victim, Andrea Akuar, confirmed to Radio Tamazuj that three of them and other preachers along with believers were lured out from the church while preaching and subjected to more torture by the army.
Responding to the allegation on Tuesday, the SPLA-IO spokesperson in Western Bahr el Ghazal State, Brigadier Uku Manwee, disputed the claim of torture but admitted that the pastors were arrested by the army but were not tortured.
“These (church) people went to the Wath-Lel area but they did not have any official letter from the high command of the forces or anything that showed they were going to perform activities there. People were disturbed by the kind of noisy prayers at night until the evangelists even went and poured away someone’s alcohol and the person reported the case to the army,” he explained. “This civilian came and reported the case to the army in the barracks and said the people praying were pouring away people’s alcohol saying it was satanic. The army went there and arrested them and also found SPLA-IO soldiers alongside them.”
Brig. Manwee added: “It is the SPLA-IO soldiers who were tortured, not people from the church, and we released the church preachers.”
He said they released the civilians and remained with their soldiers who had been detained. He played down the incident as a minor misunderstanding between the army and the church.
He also dismissed a church report that the opposition forces in the area did not want the Episcopal Church in the area and said it is the local community rejected it.
“40 young girls have been reported raped by the church members during this period and the civilians are complaining that they are not sleeping when they are preaching at night,” Manwee stated.
He urged the civilians not to use false allegations against the opposition forces in the state.