Kiir told to deploy unified forces to ‘control’ Kitgwang warring factions

JUBA – A senior government official in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State has called on the government in Juba to deploy the unified forces which were graduated recently to Upper Nile state to bring to an end to the fighting between SPLA-IO Kitgwang factions which has resulted in the killing and displacement of civilians.

This comes after thousands of civilians were displaced in deadly fighting in Tonga and Fangak Counties of Upper Nile state between forces loyal to former SPLA-IO chief of staff turned leader of SPLA-IO Kitgwang and his former deputy General Johnson Olony Thabo.

While Olony maintain that Gen. Gatwech and some forces from First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny’s SPLA-IO attacked him, Gatwech denies any wrongdoing and said any cause of fighting between the former comrades is the personal responsibility of Olony who he blamed for ‘barbaric’ style of leadership.

In an interview with the independent Eye Radio, Upper Nile State minster of cabinet affairs David Nyang said the fighting between the warring Kitgwang faction has brought back killing, destruction and displacement of civilians in the oil-rich state and called on the national government to intervene.

“It is not easy to control the situation, we have a problem of forces, where we lack enough forces to take control,” the senior state government official said.

“Now the Necessary Unified Forces have been graduated, once they are deployed, they will improve the security in the state and I believe not only in Upper Nile, but also in the other states,” he added.

He revealed that there is lack of government forces in the area to bring to and end the insecurity there and that there is need for the government in Juba under President Salva Kiir Mayardit to arm the recently graduated unified forces to control the fighting factions.

“The problem is, the government [state] has not enough ability to control these people. You need to have enough forces that are actually well-equipped to tackle the security issue, so we call upon the national government to intervene,” he said.

“What is important for people of Upper Nile is the peaceful coexistence, you know there are five tribes in Upper Nile, and Upper Nile was very diverse. We as the government are working to bring back the way people of Upper Nile used to live, where you won’t know who is a Dinka, Nuer, Buony, Kuma or Shilluk,” he added.

He empathized that the “People of Upper Nile have a good character, all of them speak the language of other tribes there, if you find children playing, you won’t recognize their tribes, because they speak Dinka, change to Shilluk or Nuer. This is a uniting factor in Upper Nile.”

“We the people of Upper Nile need to go back to how we used to live together, let’s forget about the problems we are facing, this is a time for peace and reconciliation. Let peace reign in Upper Nile.”