General Cirilo says UN decision to withdraw troops from Malakal POC ‘unacceptable’

JUBA – South Sudan’s holdout South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) led by General Thomas Cirilo Swaka has said in a statement that decision by the United Nations to withdraw troops from some POCs including Malakal is unacceptable.

On September 4^th 2020, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) issued a statement saying UN peacekeepers in several civilians sites will be withdrawing to other hotspots where conflicts were raging.

“The POC sites were set up to protect people in imminent physical danger and they did so for many different ethnicities, for many years,” UNMISS head David Shearer said. “But today, many stay just to access services.”

In a statement this evening, SSOMA said they it has been shocked by the decision by the world mission in South Sudan from Malakal as well as other centers where civilians have been protect by the UN since December 2013.

“The South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) is shocked and dismayed by the decision by the UNMISS to withdraw its security personnel from providing security to the internally displaced persons who have been taking refuge in Malakal PoCs site for years,” the SSOMA statement reads in part.

“It is to be recalled that during the infernal civil war that started in 2013, hundreds of innocent civilians lost their lives in Malakal Town and other parts of South Sudan. The survivors of the carnage escaped to the PoCs for safety,” the statement added.

The statement said “Malakal, Bor and other towns in South Sudan were reduced to ashes and the desolation and destruction of properties are total.”

“In the year 2020 to 2021 Malakal witnessed targeted ethnic killings and assassinations with impunity, henceforth, until today, no single culprit has been arrested and convicted of these heinous crimes.

“The decision by UNMISS to withdraw its personnel protecting these helpless innocent civilians is unacceptable.”