The Abyei Special Administrative Area (ASAA) on Wednesday said armed elements believed to have come from Warrap State’s Twic County ambushed and killed three South Sudan People’s Defense Force (SSPDF) soldiers on Monday in Abyei’s Rumamer County.
In a press release extended to Radio Tamazuj, Abyei Minister of Physical Infrastructure Deng Kiir who is also momentarily acting as the area’s information minister, said the armed men from armed youth from Twic County, commonly referred to as Titweng, sneaked into areas where SSPDF deployed and killed three soldiers.
“On Monday 16 December 2024 at 8 a.m., armed militia from Twic continued threatening security along main roads within Abyei Special Administrative Area and ambushed SSPDF soldiers and people traveling from Abyei to Agok,” he said. The attack resulted in the killing of three soldiers from the SSPDF’s Abyei Independent Brigade who were patrolling the main road between Wau-yichin and Wunpeeth.”
According to Minister Kiir, the three soldiers identified as Regimental Sergeant Major Chol Maker Koch, Sergeant James Beil Dak, and Corporal Nhail Manoon Guot, were killed only two kilometers from their base along the border of Abyei and Twic County.
“The Abyei Administrative strongly condemns these continuous attacks and calls upon the United Nations Interim Force for Abyei (UNISFA) and SSPDF deployed in Agok, Athony, and other parts within the Abyei Box to live up to their mandate and render effective security protection to the civilians and underscore the fact that recurrent killings at exactly one place on the Wau-yichin to Agok Road amounts to a clearer negligence of national security,” the letter reads.
Kiir accused some national parliamentarians and the Twic County of inciting and mobilizing their armed youths (Titweng) to attack the military in Athony and Wunpeth inside the Abyei Special Administrative Area. He added that the three soldiers were killed at the exact spot where armed youth from Twic murdered the former Abyei deputy chief administrator, Mayuot Kudik, the former minister of physical infrastructure, and a medical doctor last year and early this year respectively.
“We controlled our armed youths (Titbaai) because we observed the presidential order, so, our youth do not attack people in Twic areas,” he stated. “The former Chief of Defense Force Gen. Santino Deng Wol and the former Inspector of Police (IGP) came here to implement the presidential and we obeyed them. However, the Titweng (armed youth) from Twic attacked Madou and Nyin-Deng-Ayuel several times.”
For his part, Twic County Commissioner Adhar Akok rubbished Kiir’s accusations.
“That claim and press release from the Abyei acting information minister is baseless because there is no way our youth attacked their places because those areas have SSPDF Abyei Mission Forces deployed between Twic and Abyei,” he said. “The areas where the incidents occurred are inhabited by the SSPDF.”