Officials in the Western Bahr el Ghazal State capital Wau have confirmed that travel along the Wau County-Baggari road has resumed days after it was closed by elements of the SPLA-IO.
According to Wau County Commissioner George Wajok Tonga, the road was closed on 24 February after rumors circulated that there were plans to deploy an SPLM party-nominated commissioner to the Baggari headquarters.
“The road has been reopened. It was closed by our partners the SPLA-IO who are within the four payams of Baggari. They heard information that there were plans to take a new commissioner to Baggari headquarters without their knowledge, that it was by force,” said Tonga. “They heard rumors from people who are against the peace here, which is why they ordered a road closure.”
According to Tonga, the opposition forces are still suspicious and have refused to allow the commissioner to move his office to Baggari due to issues related to the 2012 Wau crisis when the population opposed the transfer of Wau County’s headquarters to Baggari from Wau town.
“They still have a wrong concept related to the issue of the Wau crisis of 2012 which already ended,” he said. “The commissioner is supposed to be working within Baggari headquarters for the sake of providing services to the citizens.”
Tonga said the road was reopened after a dialogue between the peace partners, citizens, and the state government.
“In the security arrangements of the peace agreement, it is illegal to close roads for the humanitarians and the civilians and that is why the road was opened,” he said.
When contacted, the SPLM-IO’s state secretary, Paulino Adam Naro, confirmed the road’s reopening and called for an investigation on both sides about what led to the road’s closure.
“The road was closed for a short period as said but I do not have the details of why it was closed and reopened. People are moving freely now,” said Naro. “We need investigations on the two sides so that we find the root cause and address it. People have to be calm because it was just a mistake. People have to be patient, we have to implement the peace agreement.”
Two years after the appointment of the SPLM party-nominated Wau County commissioner, he has been unable to operate out of the county headquarters.
Meanwhile, the state coordinator of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Stephen Robo Musa, condemned the closure of the road and urged the parties to resolve their differences amicably.
“I want to say that if there are such misunderstandings, it should not affect the movement of the ordinary citizens,” said Musa. “I am very thankful to the parties because they have reached a consensus to reopen the road.”