The United States government says that South Sudan’s army SPLA attacked an area occupied by opposition forces in Wau County, even after the area was declared as a cantonment zone for peaceful assembly of the opposition troops in accordance with the peace agreement signed last August.
“The United States condemns recent attacks by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), which destroyed a declared opposition cantonment site at Numatina in Wau County, South Sudan,” reads the statement by the US State Department, which is the American counterpart to South Sudan’s foreign ministry .
“These attacks followed a surge of SPLA troops and military equipment into the area. This action is in clear violation of the permanent ceasefire provisions that apply nationwide and were agreed to by all peace agreement signatories,” adds the press statement.
Separately, an SPLM-IO commander in the Wau area contacted Radio Tamazuj on Sunday night confirming that their camp in Numatina had been attacked and saying their forces withdrew into the bush.
Military sources on the government side earlier also told Radio Tamazuj that SPLA Chief of Staff Paul Malong had instructed government forces to prevent the SPLA-IO from establishing bases in Western Bahr el Ghazal and to dismantle their camps.
The intention, the sources said, is to prevent SPLA-IO from establishing official cantonment sites in the area. This conforms with the government’s position that the SPLA-IO has no bases in Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria, so should not be allowed to establish cantonment sites in those areas.
The timing of the attack also coincided roughly with plans by international peace monitors to verify the existence of SPLM-IO forces in the Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria regions to determine whether cantonment sites would be necessary in those areas.
Government officials have stated their position against SPLA-IO cantonment sites in Western Bahr el Ghazal and Western Equatoria at various meetings of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), which is overseeing implementation of South Sudan’s peace deal.
The SPLA-IO claims they have presence of soldiers in both areas, and should therefore have cantonment sites to station their troops.
On the other hand, the US government also said that Wau County has recently seen attacks by the opposition on government forces. “We take note of credible reports that the opposition and associated armed actors have recently attacked government forces and civilians in the area. We condemn such actions, which also constitute a violation of the permanent ceasefire provisions.”
“We call on the parties to provide access for the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM) to investigate the circumstances surrounding these incidents,” said the US State Department.
The American diplomats further called on all parties to resolve disputes through dialogue and to refer any disputes to the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC).
The statement concludes: “There is no military solution to the conflicts in South Sudan. We call on all parties to fulfill their commitments to implement the provisions of the peace agreement in full.”
File photo: SPLA Commander in Chief Salva Kiir (right) and Chief of Staff Paul Malong, 12 June 2014