South Sudan rebels have detained a Kenyan chartered plane and its crew in Yuai town in Uror County of Jonglei State for a week, a senior SPLM-IO official said.
Mabior Garang de Mabior, head of the SPLM-IO committee of information, told Radio Tamazuj that the Kenyan chartered plane was detained when it landed in Yuai area last week, saying investigations are underway.
“Those people lied to the security organs there, because they claimed that they are working with Care NGO. So when the security asked the staff of the NGO, they said they do not know them” said Garang.
The opposition official claimed that they found huge amounts of money inside the charted plane after inspection. He added that the plane and its crew will be released as soon as the investigation is completed.
“After the inspection, a huge amount of money was found, the money belongs to senior officers in the SPLA. So we don’t know they want to use the money for what” he said.
SPLA-IO denies defections
Separately, the SPLA-IO faction in Unity State has confirmed reports that three SPLA-IO generals defected to Salva Kiir’s government in Juba recently.
James Yoach, spokesman of the SPLA-IO in Unity State, told Radio Tamazuj that about three SPLA-IO generals defected from Riek Machar recently, while disputing reports that about 10,000 opposition fighters defected to the government.
“The three opposition generals defected together with their bodyguards only, Gen. Makal Kuol defected with seven bodyguards, James Liah and Dor Monyjur defected with some soldiers, but their number cannot reach a platoon,” he explained.