The office of the SPLM-DC chairman Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin dismissed allegations that their movement has a military wing, denying any link to armed groups in either Sudan or South Sudan.
A statement from the party was released soon after some newspapers in Khartoum published reports that Dr. Lam Akol’s forces attacked citizens in Abu Jubeiha area of South Kordofan and looted their properties.
Residents of the Abu Jubeiha area speaking to Radio Tamazuj have previously ascribed criminal attacks to southern militia, which are sometimes referred to locally as Lam Akol forces.
Carlo James Chol, the office manager for Dr. Lam Akol, said that the party depends on peaceful political means and noted that his is an officially registered opposition party in South Sudan.
He added that there is an organized frantic campaign by powers hostile to Dr. Lam to discredit him and try to link him with armed actions.
The office manager acknowledged that Dr. Lam Akol has intimate ties with the Awlad-Himayd tribes of Kordofan, noting they were the first people who honored him after peace agreement of 1997. He said that any attempt to drive a wedge between Dr. Lam and the Awlad-Himayd and other Arabs tribes bordering Upper Nile state is doomed to inevitable failure.