The South Sudan People`s Defense Forces (SSPDF) on Friday said the deadly clashes in Upper Nile State’s Nasir County which left 13 soldiers and 7 civilians dead were caused by a soldier marrying and fathering a child with a colleague’s wife.
On Thursday, Nasir County Commissioner James Gatluak told this publication that a tragic attack on Wednesday afternoon by SSPDF soldiers on civilians resulted in the death of 13 soldiers, and 3 civilians, including a woman, and the injury of at least 14 people, mostly women and children.
However, in a new twist of events, SSPDF Spokesperson Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang told Radio Tamazuj Friday that the fighting erupted after a love entanglement involving two soldiers and a woman.
He said that among the dead was an SSPDF Lieutenant Colonel who was killed in an ambush alongside his bodyguards.
“What happened is that we have two soldiers from the SSPDF, one is deployed in Nasir with the Nasir Special Operation Battalion. He has been in Nasir for quite some time and developed an extramarital affair with a married woman. Whether he knew the woman was married or the woman lied to him, is what we do not know. They got into an extramarital relationship and as a result, a child was born out of that,” he explained. “The second soldier is deployed in Malakal with the Second Infantry Division and has been believing that his family is still at home in Nasir and faithful to him. It has been a while since he visited them, so, he took permission from his superiors to go and visit his family in Nasir. Upon arrival in Nasir, he discovered that his wife had abandoned their matrimonial home, relocated, and moved in with a new man.”
According to Gen Ruai, the soldier from Malakal who is the rightful husband of the woman, took the matter to a local court and after a session of the first hearing, the accused was ambushed on his way back home on Wednesday afternoon after the court adjourned their case to a later date. He said the violence then escalated leading to the death of both soldiers and civilians.
“This man is a law-abiding officer who opened a court case against the accused who was served with a notice that he would be required to appear before a traditional court, on that very day (Wednesday), because he was served with a notice a day before, clashes erupted in Nasir,” he said. “Court deliberations were made until around 3 p.m. when the court session was adjourned and he (accused) was told to go back to his residence so that hearing continues on a later day. So, he left with his bodyguards back to his residence with the woman. On the way, they were ambushed and as a result, the accused was killed along with his bodyguards.”
“Our security personnel in their defensive position heard of the exchange of gunfire, rushed to the scene of the attack, and fell in a second ambush and as a result, we ended up losing a total of 13 servicemen including the accused who was at a rank of a Lieutenant Colonel,” Gen. Ruai added.
He said seven other soldiers were wounded and this latest fighting in Nasir was not politically motivated.
“It was a love triangle that went wrong and a lot of lives were lost,” the army mouthpiece clarified.