Kiir threatens violence against rebels

JUBA – President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Wednesday threatened that the next mission for South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) would be to look for rebels in the country’s forests in order to clear the country from opposition groups.

Kiir was speaking during the graduation of more than 700 troops who are being deploying to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to fight the M23 rebel group which has been advancing against government forces there.

“There are people in a forest here who consider themselves strong in your absence, and when you come, they shoot bullets and run away,” Kiir who is also the commander in chief of the army said.

“These people, if they shoot next time, it will be the next mission where we will search the trees of the forest for these people,” he added.

He said that the remaining force of the SSPDF who have not been sent to the DR Congo will now go and hunt rebels who he said are disturbing peace of the country since the signing of the revitalized peace agreement.

“I repeat, the remaining army will not stay without a mandate, we are going to look for something that hits people in the forest. We have been in the forest for 21 years, and we haven’t found anything good; if there was something good in the forest, we wouldn’t have come to the cities,” he said.

“I tell you that the remaining army would be tasked with clearing those forests and not favouring any small thing in a forest,” he added.