In a statement, Oyet claimed that Kiir approved the weapons and funding during a security meeting held two days ago, describing the alleged decision as “clear intent to kill” and evidence of a “state-sponsored policy.”
“The approval of 10,000 rifles and money… to be given to Nuer officers and politicians and to be handed over to the Northern Jonglei White Army is like providing machetes for communities to kill themselves,” Oyet said.
The acting SPLM-IO leader argued that the reported move contradicts the security arrangements provided for under the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), which calls for the unification of forces and the reduction of armed groups.
“This is not the Security Arrangements that was in the R-ARCSS; it is warfare,” he said.
Oyet also dismissed what he described as the government’s counterinsurgency strategy, urging communities not to participate in what he portrayed as efforts to pit members of the same ethnic group against one another.
“The counterinsurgency strategy will not work,” he said. “Collect all the weapons and use them to defend yourselves.”
The senior opposition figure further accused Kiir’s government of arming militias since the outbreak of South Sudan’s civil war in 2013.
“Kiir has been arming all sorts of militias against you since 2013. He should not arm you against yourselves, after killing hundreds of thousands of innocent lives and displacing millions,” Oyet said.
He concluded the statement by expressing confidence that the current government would eventually be replaced.
“One day, we shall turn and look back and say, ‘We have done it, the regime is gone.’ We have one people, one nation,” he said.
The presidency and the government had not publicly responded to Oyet’s allegations at the time of publication. Sudans Post could not independently verify the claim that 10,000 rifles and money had been approved for distribution to Nuer officers, politicians or the White Army.
The statement comes amid heightened political and security tensions following the continued detention of First Vice President Riek Machar and growing concerns over the implementation of the 2018 peace agreement, particularly its security provisions, which remain only partially implemented.
