A top rebel commander allied to former first vice president Riek Machar in the Equatoria region has urged all supporters of the armed opposition group to stop any negative propaganda against Lt. Gen. Thomas Cirillo Swaka, leader of the National Salvation Front (NAS), a new rebel group in South Sudan.

This comes after several SPLM-IO members started criticizing Thomas Cirillo on social media following defections of some senior members of the main opposition to Cirillo’s new rebel group.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Friday, Lt. Gen. John Jok Gai, the SPLA-IO sector commander of the Equatoria region, said: “I want to inform all South Sudanese within the country and the diaspora that Lt. Gen. Thomas Cirillo Swaka of the newly formed NAS is not in any way in problem with SPLM/A-IO as many people have speculated.”

Jok revealed that he had a fruitful discussion with Thomas Cirillo on 9 March in Ethiopia, where they agreed to have a common goal to topple Kiir’s government in Juba.

“During the conversation, Lt. Gen. Thomas Cirillo assured me that what had happened to Maj. Gen. Tanginye in Upper Nile region will not repeat itself in the Equatoria region,” said Jok.

Photo: SPLA soldiers in Upper Nile (Radio Tamazuj)