Calm returned to Nasir County of Upper Nile State after three-pronged clashes involving the SSPDF, SPLA-IO, and civilians erupted there on Sunday, a local official said.
“The security situation is now normal. There was a government delegation that came from Juba and they came and briefed the people in Nasir and things are now back to normal. They told people not to fight,” Khor Gatluak, the Executive Director of Nasir County, told Radio Tamazuj Wednesday.
Asked if the SPLA-IO also met the delegation from Juba, Khor said: “We did not meet the delegation from Juba together with the SPLM/A-IO. It was the government delegation that came and had a meeting with us. The SPLM/A-IO did not come to meet us. Even if we invite them [SPLM/A-IO] for meetings, they do not come.”
The local official said the fighting was triggered by the killing of an SSPDF officer by elements loyal to SPLA-IO in the Koat area. “What happened was that an SSPDF officer was travelling out of Nasir town with his bodyguard and the SPLA-IO killed the officer and his bodyguard ran away. This is what happened on Sunday,” Khor explained. “So when people went to retrieve the body of the dead officer the SPLA-IO shot at them. So this led to an exchange of fire.”
Questioned about how he concluded that it was the SPLA-IO who killed the SSPDF officer, Khor said, “We know because the bodyguard of the officer who was killed came and reported that it was SPLA-IO who attacked them. They also took the weapons of the deceased officer and his bodyguard and when we went to retrieve the dead body they [SPLA-IO] were there on the scene and started shooting at our people. They said the dead body will not be taken.”
On working relations and liaisons with the SPLM/A-IO, the county’s executive director said, “No. They do not cooperate and do not want to talk to us.”
Meanwhile, Brig. Santo Domic, the SSPDF spokesperson said the details about the Nasir fighting were still scanty but that they were investigating.
“The issue in Nasir is not very clear but the first information we got was that there was a problem between two communities which ended up in them clashing. While they were fighting one group met with a group of SSPDF soldiers who had gone fishing,” Brig. Domic said. “The SSPDF soldiers were attacked and came under fire from one of the warring parties. So it was inter-communal fighting but we are even momentarily trying to establish the facts.”
When asked about the government delegation that went to Nasir, Brig. Domic said, “No, no delegation went from Juba to Nasir. Those people went from the headquarters of the state to go and ensure stabilization so that there is no more fighting. They did not go from Juba.”
The military officer said that the country should not backtrack to war and that the Nasir incident was an isolated case. “We do not want to go back to war. This is an isolated incident that will be resolved and should not bring about misunderstandings and wreck the peace. We are all one now, even if you are SSPDF or SPLA-IO. The army is being unified and after that everyone will be SSPDF,” Brig. Domic said.
He said such remote misunderstandings between elements from the two forces should be treated as such and resolved accordingly and immediately.
“Such cases should be brought before the Joint Defense Board (JDB), facts established and action is then taken. But as armies, the SSPDF and the SPLA-IO are not at war. We don’t want to accuse each other but we want to take it as our responsibility to solve these problems,” Brig. Domic concluded.
For his part, Col. Lam Paul Gabriel, SPLA-IO deputy military spokesman, in a press release earlier on Wednesday, confirmed that an SPLA-IO position came under attack in the Kedbek area on the outskirts of Nasir town.
“On Monday 15 March 2021, the SPLA-IO defense position of Kedbek in Nasir surprisingly came under aggressive attack from some anti-peace elements within the SSPDF base in Nasir,” Col. Lam wrote. “They burned down Kedbek base to ashes making the SPLA-IO tactically withdraw to Pananyang in respect of the R-ARCSS [the revitalized peace agreement]. The SPLA-IO is aware of the start of the clashes between the SSPDF and civilians in Koat on Sunday 14 March 2021 where they also burned civilians’ houses and destroyed other properties.”
He said that the SPLA-IO did not start the fighting in Koat.
“The SPLA-IO would like to make it clear that its forces in Kedbek didn’t start or influence the fight in Koat but wonders why its base was attacked and destroyed at this time when the majority of the suffering South Sudanese want peace,” Col. Lam Paul said. “The SPLA-IO acknowledged the effort from the SSPDF high command to bring those responsible for the violations in Kedbek to account.”
However, the SPLA-IO deputy military spokesman called on the joint defense body and peace monitors to investigate the incident as mandated by the peace agreement.
The partners in the September 2018 peace agreement are yet to unify and deploy armed forces. They are also yet to reconstitute the national legislature – the body responsible for enacting the reforms stipulated in the agreement.
The formation of a unified army in South Sudan is a cornerstone of the peace agreement.