The South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) stationed in Western Bahr el Ghazal’s Raga County said armed Sudanese criminals over the weekend gunned down one of their soldiers while on patrol in the Siri-Malaga area west of Raga town.
According to the area commander, Brigadier General James Riak Par, a Sergeant Major identified as Richard Kuot was shot dead while on patrol near the border between South Sudan and Sudan.
“The problem is the armed criminals from Sudan and the incident did not happen inside Raga but at the border area of Siri-Malaga. The armed criminals from Sudan clashed with our forces when our forces were patrolling,” said Gen. Par. “Our Sergeant Major Richard Kuot was killed after they fell into an ambush. One Sudanese criminal was also killed.”
He accused the Sudanese criminals loot traders along the border.
“These people are looting traders when the traders are crossing into South Sudan from Sudan,” Gen. Par said. “They are looting vehicles and motorcycles and when our forces learned this, they went to push them away from that place.”
He said the SSPDF had cordial relations with Sudanese authorities.
“We coordinate with the Sudanese authorities and they do visit us in our area and we also visit them,” he said. “The only problem is that we are disturbed by the criminals who always do not cooperate with the authorities.”