A Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) soldier and his colleague who earlier defected from the group disagreed over weapons in Yambio’s main market and caused panic among civilians, police commissioner James Mande said Thursday.
Major General James Mande Innoka said an SPLA-IO soldier called Jimmy Sikpa claimed that his colleague, James Bafuka, robbed his wife in May 2020 and went away with his 3 rifles, 1 pistol, and rounds of ammunition and that when the duo met in Yambio Market to try and resolve their differences, it caused panic among the public.
"The two soldiers have a conflict on the issue of guns, Jimmy claims that his colleague Bafuka took his 3 rifles, 1 pistol and number of ammunitions, so the two met in Yambio market today and they were about to clash and the government intervened and the two were arrested for disciplinary measures,” according to Mande. “They were brought to the State Secretariat, in the House of the governor and the issue of the two was resolved."
Mande said the two have been arrested and will be sent back to their respective military units and the guns will be returned to the armoury and that only soldiers on duty will be allowed to carry arms in the town.
"I want to assure the people of Western Equatoria State in general and the people of Yambio that they should not panic because the security situation is under control,” Mande said. “Now we will be busy working to protect them day and night using patrols because we know this is the time of the theft and it has increased during this time of Christmas. Everybody wants to take the other’s properties by illegal means and we are starting today."
A trader in Yambio who preferred anonymity told Radio Tamazuj that the incident caused panic among the people and made traders lose their property and customers. He urged soldiers to avoid such behaviour, saying they should resolve problems within their barracks.
"What has happened scared us. Soldiers are not supposed to react like this in public and we have even lost some of our properties and our customers as some people were running home for safety. My message to the government is that those people should be punished so that they do not repeat such behaviour," the trader said.
The secretary-general for the Civil Society Network in Yambio, Wingba Benedict, said they have been following the case and want to see that there is peace and conflict should not arise again in the state.
"For us, as we are trying to talk to the parties involved in the case but per now the situation has calm down so our message as Civil Society to the communities, the government and all the parties are we are for peace and we need peace we don't want to see that the conflict has started again," said Wingba.