3/5/2021
Press Statement
Dear South Sudanese People, We Love You, And We Cherish You
This is to inform all the people of South Sudan that today on 3/5/2021, I have joined the South Sudan united front/army (SSUF/A) under the leadership of General Paul Malong Awan for the following reasons: –
(1) Barbaric attack on the cattle camp of the Spiritual leader Today on 3/5/2021, The New commissioner of Mayom County Mr. Chuol Gatluak, brother of security advisor Tut Gatluak has attacked our cattle camp of spiritual leader Gai Machiek Ruathdheal. The fighting which involved the use of government artillery and tanks on the cattle camp lasted for three hours. Many people killed and wounded in the attack. The commissioner was ordered by his brother Tut Gatluak to mobilize all the Bul armed youths into what is so- called Bul Rapid support forces ( RSF), but the armed youths of this cattle camp refused to be mobilized and as a result the commissioner ordered the forces to attack the cattle camp.
(2) The National Congress Party.
(a) The presidential palace of this country has been captured by the elements of the National Congress Party group led by Security Advisor Tut Gatluak Manime and his team including Hon. Dhieu Mathok, Hon. Joseph Monytuil Wicjang, the governor of unity state, Hon. Tong Akeen, the governor of Northern Bahr El Ghazal, Hon. Dak Duop Bichok and Hon. Mayik Ayii. This group has controlled the president through General Akol Koor and sidelined the real SPLM members from interacting with the president. They have managed to manipulate the president into issuing the daily erroneous decrees to sack who they don’t want and appoint who they want, especially those who cannot challenge them before the president.
(b) On the 3rd of April, 2021, they met and discussed that they were given a broad hint by a doctor that the president will not live for the next six months, and that he will die of a liver cancer-related illness, so they were discussing how they will take over when the president dies. They agreed that first, the president should remove Nhial Deng Nhial, CDF of the SSPDF, and General Thomas Duoth Guet of external security, then they recommended Hon. Marial Benjamin to replace Nhial Deng Nhial, and General Santino Deng Wol to replace General Johnson Juma Okot as a new CDF, and General Simon Yien Makuac to replace General Thomas Duoth Guet in the external security.
(c) They say, when the president dies, the army and other organized forces will take over the leadership of the country and form a military transitional council (MTC) that will be led by General Akol Koor for two years and be deputized by Security Advisor Tut Gatluak before going for the elections. They brought General Simon Yien Makuac to rally Lou Nuer behind the would-be new leadership.
(d) The group has briefed Khartoum about their plan and assured them of their greatest support in terms of the military in case the SPLM members try to challenge their action plan.
(e) Security advisor Tut Gatluak has poisoned the mind of our president Salva Kiir with money by scamming millions of dollars from our financial institutions for the president. Tut has gone to the extent that, he solicits millions of dollars in the name of the president’s family from the Arab rich countries and takes the greater part of the money and gives the least to the President and General Akol Koor.
(f) Tut has already sold our South Sudan oil to the cartel countries in advance from 2018 up to 2027. There will be no money for the citizens of this country for the next six years.
(g) President Kiir has left his colleagues of the SPLM members in the cold simply because of money supplied by Tut Gatluak. For instance, when Omer Hassan EI Bashir was falling from his leadership in Sudan, he sent his wife to Juba for sanctuary with millions of dollars and she was received at the Juba international airport by Security Advisor Tut Gatluak and General Akol Koor and put up in the house of Tut Gatluak with all the money she brought from Khartoum, but after two days, president Omer was arrested. Then, Tut Gatluak sent the wife of Omer EI Bashir to one of the middle east countries friends to Omer Hassan El Bashir and the money remained with Tut Gatluak in Juba promising to send the money after her, but unfortunately, he didn’t send the money, he divided the money with President Kiir and General Akol Kor. Secondly, the president trusted Tut Gatluak more than any SPLM member because Tut Gatluak has promised and assured the president that no South Sudanese rebel movements would be harbored in Sudan again to challenge his leadership. Thirdly, the president has got for himself a very good scammer who scams for his millions of dollars out of the blue. The money president never had before.
(h) Hon. Tut Gatluak and his group have planned to annex areas of Northern Bahr El Ghazal, Raja, Twic, Abyei, Unity state, Ruweng, and the whole of Upper Nile to Sudan. This was confirmed on the 24th of April 2021, when forces of Sudan armed forces under command of a brigadier General came to Mayom County in Unity state with twelve military armored vehicles without the knowledge of the SSPDF HQS. They brought more ammunition, uniforms, and new weapons for the militia forces being organized in Bul Nuer Mayom county under the leadership of Hon. Chuol Gatluak, the brother of Tut Gatluak, the new Mayom county commissioner.
(I) Tut Gatluak and his team have been planning to remove vice president Taban Deng Gai and to be replaced by Dak Duop Bichok. The president told them to wait for a while as citing Taban Deng as being a notorious person who can cause another havoc in the country.
(G) President Kiir has sold the SPLM party and surrendered himself to the National Congress party. Tut has bought President Kiir a luxurious estate and opened bank accounts in one of the middle east countries which Tut Gatluak has chosen to be the retirement place for president Kiir. Tut has advised president Kiir to prefer one of the Arab countries to east Africa to be his retirement place, as East Africa will not be well with him when he retires or his property might not be safe after his tenure.
(3) The SSPDF soldiers. President Kiir and his government have failed to take care of the welfare of our gallant forces. The SSPDF faces a lot of challenges including problems regarding logistics, and sustainment, lack of mobility, poor tactical communications, lack of new equipment, lack of competent command and control, and lack of salary.
A soldier receives, only one thousand SSP (1000) per month, the amount which cannot buy anything in Konyo –Konyo market, in an army that is largely married. How do you expect such a soldier to cope with his family in this economic situation whereby one bag of maize is at 25,000 SSP, and while the salary comes after six months?
Our soldiers live below the poverty line and these are the soldiers who gave their lives and died for the defense of this country in battles and the face of a dangerous enemy during the crisis of 2013. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts and on their lips hoping that we would go-ahead to the victory and have everlasting peace and harmony among ourselves. Always CITING these three words:
Duty – Honor – Country. All the forces have deserted their units and melted into civil population causing chaos and anarchy among communities in the countryside and indulged in inter-communal violence and bartering government ammunition and weapons with cattle. Those who are strong and loyal to their units’ resort to burning and selling charcoals in the nearby markets for their families’ survival. There are no forces that remain in the SSPDF units except officers and senior NCOS. What kind of a president are you Mr. Kiir?
Look at the wounded heroes who are left suffering without any good care for their families such as medical facilities, clean water, school, and agricultural program. These are our old SPLA soldiers who liberated this country from the Tut Gatluak party, and now Tut Gatluak is swimming in dollars. Is this the country we fought for? There is a saying that if a soldier loses any battle, the nation will be destroyed.
To make matters worse, President Kiir appointed an illiterate General to lead the SSPDF, General Santino Deng Wol, who is like Tut Gatluak who cannot read and write. What do you benefit from such characters if you want to transform our national army? General Johnson Juma was perfect for that position until he could finish his term of 5 years of office, but within only 9 months he was sacked without any explanation. President Kiir wants only to work with militia- forces. He doesn’t need a national army. He has resorted to abandon the SSPDF and use only militias, Tiger division, and national security forces as used by Omer El Bashir who dug his own grave. Like President Kiir, he is digging his own grave soon or later.
President Kiir wants to work with illiterate people who cannot challenge him in any form. President Kiir is happy to work with people like Elia Lomoro, Tut Gatluak, and Dhieu Mathok who can only work for him and not for the country.
(4) Revitalized peace agreement.
The peace agreement is dead. The President and his new party the National Congress Party, (NCP) have stalled the implementation of the peace agreement, they have tactically and technically delayed the implementation of the agreement so that the elections will not take place in time as stipulated in the agreement. They have deliberately frustrated and depressed the unified forces and denied them food and medicines to desert the training centers and there would be no forces to graduate. They are planning to buy the opposition forces to join the SSPDF and then they will declare the peace agreement dead.
1st vice president Riek Machar Teny is under tactical office arrest until some of his forces get frustrated and melted either into the civil population or joined the SSPDF, this indicates that there is no peace agreement in the country.
The clashes and skirmishes that took place around Kajo-Keji, Yei, and Maban areas between the SSPDF and the SPLA -10, indicate that there is no peace in the country.
The defections of the SPLA –IO Generals with forces and welcomed and encouraged by the SSPDF HQS, indicate that there is no peace agreement in the country.
The delay to reconstitute the Revitalized transitional national legislative assembly and other institutions as stipulated in the agreement indicates that there is no peace in the country.
The refusal to constitute the hybrid court indicates that there is no peace agreement in the country.
The delay to form the unified command and graduation of the unified forces indicate that there is no peace agreement in the country.
The mistreatment and harassment of the members of the opposition in the states under the SPLM-IG, without giving them equal services, indicates that there is no peace agreement in the country.
The recent reshuffles of the SSPDF command and National Security Bureau without involving members of the opposition in the new command structure indicates that going back to war is imminent.
We thought that the senior opposition officers would be mixed in the command structure with the SSPDF to form the national army command and one of the two national security departments to be given to the opposition security members to occupy it, but that is not the case now.
(5) Corruption.
When Tut Gatluak began to work in J-1, President Kiir starts to behave very strangely and greedily stores millions of dollars and other currency in his own house which was not there before Tut came to J-1. This is the style of Omer El Bashir copied and pasted in J-1 by Tut Gatluak to keep money at home as we have seen when Omer El Bashir was overthrown by his people. Tut trained our president in liking money and adopt Omer El Bashir’s style of keeping money in at home instead of the central bank of South Sudan.
Whenever oil money is brought from abroad, Tut himself rushes to the airport to receive and divide the money into three allocations right away from the airport as follows: –
- Bank of South Sudan
- J-1 for the president
- Tut and General Akol Koor
Millions of drums of crude oil have begun to disappear on the sea since 2018, but Tut, Mayiik Ayii, Akol Koor, and the president himself know where the oil has gone. Tut diverts the peace money of South Sudan and Sudan and divided them with the president and General Akol Koor.
There will be no development as long as President Kiir is in power. Our people are ignorant of the way government works and as such, they will die without seeing any tangible development taking place in this country. This is the public money we are talking about. It is not the money of President Kiir or Tut Gatluak. Our people must know their rights and wake up to claim their rights from President Kiir.
(6) Who is Tut Gatluak by the way?
Tut Gatluak is a scammer from Bul Nuer. He worked for Omer El Bashir to wash his clothes and run other errands for him when Omer El Bashir was deployed in Mayom town as Sudan armed forces garrison commander in 1986 -1987.
When Mayom was captured by the SPLA forces under the overall command of Riek Machar Teny, Tut Gatluak withdrew with Sudan armed forces to the North to follow his master, Brigadier General Omer Hassan El Bashir and from there Bashir used him as his house boy until Omer Hassan El Bashir overthrew the civilian government of Sadiq El Mahdi in 1989, and Omer used Tut as his agent to spy on the other South Sudanese in Khartoum and double up as a coordinator between him and General Paulino Matip Nhial. Tut became very important to the Sudan armed forces by using him to direct Russian-made Antonov planes to bomb all the SPLA-controlled areas in the South.
When those of Generals Wani Igga, Kuol Manyang Juuk, Daniel Awet Akot, and Pieng Deng Kuol were busy trying to shoot down those Antonov planes, Tut Gatluak was there in those Antonov planes directing the targets, but now where are these great heroes? They have been used and thrown away like condoms by President Kiir and takes Tut Gatluak the Antonov director as his right-hand man advising him in the very government of the SPLM. Is it true President Kiir that you don’t know your generals and know only Tut Gatluak?
President Kiir did the same thing to me by arresting me twice in 2016 and 2018 until he demoted and dismissed me from the SSPDF, all in favor of Tut Gatluak despite all the efforts I made in 2013 war, defending his government and the oil fields in Upper Nile. It has been confirmed that President Kiir has no permanent friends. He dismissed General Malong who helped him out in 2013, crisis when the SPLM/A- 10 almost captured Juba. General Malong had to leave his governorship position and came to defend Juba. President Kiir dismissed his longtime friend Thomas Duoth Guet because of Tut Gatluak, president Kiir dismissed Taban Deng Gai from Governorship after finishing the 2 % from the oil meant for the community of unity state, but the money was channeled to him to make him happy and keep Taban in his position. President Kiir dismissed a number of the SPLA (SSPDF) generals from the army and thrown them away like garbage without giving them essential services.
The Generals are begging on the street like orphans while Tut Gatluak is swimming in dollars building big storey buildings in Juba and Khartoum.
(7) ABMC and now ARC company. President Kiir channels all the money of the country to the company of Benjamin Bol Mel to eat from there on the pretext of making roads. The president doesn’t allow other companies to compete with the ARC company of Bol Mel. He gave all the road projects of this country to Mr. Bol Mel to be the one to construct all the roads of South Sudan.
How do you expect these roads to finish in time when only one company is allowed to build the roads? Secondly, this company we are talking about is under sanction. Why doesn’t the president allow other companies to come in and bid for road construction if the president wants to make good development in the country?
(8) Tribalism.
Our president has planted hatred and tribalism in the hearts of our beloved people of South Sudan when he deliberately divided South Sudan into 32 states by carving out Dinka areas from the rest of South Sudanese people which was not there before.
Dinka people live with their other South Sudanese brothers for centuries and president Kiir tries to undermine and sabotage this beautiful harmony and coexistence. If you go to Unity state, you find Ruweng Dinka have lived comfortably with their Leek, Bul, and Jikany brothers in centuries which President Kiir doesn’t like.
If you go to Upper Nile, you find Chollo, Nuer Jikany, Maban, Koma, Dinka Ngok Lual Yak, Dinka Abialang, Dinka Nyiel lived in Malakal town comfortably for years before President Kiir planted this hatred in their hearts.
If you go to Jonglei, you find Nuer Fangak, Nuer Gawar, Nuer Lou, Dinka Atar, Dinka Bor, and Murle lived in their respective towns comfortably for years as one people, but president Kiir divided them into his 32 states.
We cannot consider cattle rustling among our pastoral communities to be a major problem that can divide us. It can be regulated simply if there is good governance in place.
Cattle raiding or rustling between Dinka and Nuer or among other tribes in South Sudan is a primordial practice that will go away with time if our people get educated and discourage cattle life and shift to civilized life.
We are no longer at the community or tribal level. We are at the national level whereby we have a country called South Sudan. President Kiir should not behave like a cattle camp leader. He should behave like a leader of a nation, not a tribal leader like is practicing now.
Dinka are good people. It is the leadership of President Kiir which is bad not the people of Dinka and we must discourage this tribal hatred and unite our people as one people with one identity. Let us leave hatred and tribalism to non – civilized people who we are trying to educate and civilize.
With this, I urge the SSPDF forces wherever they are to challenge the regime of President Kiir and all the forces to evacuate the towns and assembly in the country side and report their readiness to the leadership of General Paul Malong Awan so that we make a regime change in our country.
Do not attack any town till further directives from this end, but defend yourselves when come under attack by the forces loyal to President Kiir.
I warn all the international and national oil workers to evacuate Unity and Tharjiath oil fields within 7 days’ time or otherwise.
Struggle to remove president Kiir from power continuous
Long live the people of South Sudan.
Long live the struggle.
