NAS denies role in Juba-Nimule highway attack, accuses SSPDF of cover-up

JUBA – The National Salvation Front (NAS) led by General Thomas Cirilo Swaka has vehemently denied the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF)’s accusation that it was behind a highway attack near Juba on Tuesday.

At least one person was killed and eight others wounded in the ambush, according to eyewitnesses. The SSPDF blamed the NAS for the attack, but the rebel group dismissed the claim as a “baseless lie.”

NAS spokesman Suba Samuel Manase said the SSPDF’s statement was a “cover-up” to distract from the country’s worsening security situation. He accused the government of instigating the violence by failing to pay soldiers for nearly 21 months.

“This statement is a reaction aimed to cover up the dismal regime’s failure in providing security not only on the Juba-Nimule Road, but the entire security of the people and the territorial integrity of South Sudan,” Manase said in a statement.

The NAS official also condemned the attack, offering condolences to the victims’ families. He said the government was trying to divert attention from the ongoing debate about extending the transitional period and delaying elections.

“The false allegation against NAS is also a desperate attempt by the R-TGONU to try to divert the attention of the people of South Sudan, the region and the international community from the current critical debate of the regime’s legitimacy crisis,” Manase added.

The NAS described the attack as an “inside operation” carried out by SSPDF operatives. The rebel group said the government had orchestrated similar attacks in the past, including the killing of two Catholic nuns on the Juba-Nimule Highway in August 2021.

“The regime has always orchestrated such attacks on civilians including religious people as in the killing of the two Catholic nuns on the same Juba-Nimule Highway on 16th August 2021, and the targeted killings and robbery by state sponsored unknown gunmen,” Manase said.

This is not the first time the two parties have traded accusations over highway attacks. In 2022, the SSPDF accused the NAS and South Sudan United Front (SSUF), led by General Paul Malong Awan, of being behind an ambush in which Catholic nuns were killed.

Both rebel groups responded by accusing the government of deploying operatives along the highway to attack civilians traveling in order to tarnish their image.