S. Sudan militia commander General Ochan appointed to head ‘special forces’ in Maiwut

JUBA – South Sudan’s notorious government-allied militia commander, General Ochan Puot, who defected from the country’s main armed opposition group, SPLM-IO, in August 2019 has been appointed by President Salva Kiir Mayardit, the commander in chief of the SSPDF, as the commander of special forces in Maiwut county of Upper Nile state.

Ochan is a government-allied militia who tried several times in late 2019 to jeopardize the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement after an attack he led against the SPLA-IO and civilians in the area threatened to return the country to the seven year-old conflict that has seen hundreds of thousands killed and millions displaced.

He was recalled to Juba following an international and regional outcry against the government of President Salva Kiir and has since remained in the capital, amid disintegration among his forces with some returning to the SPLA-IO saying they had been “misled” by General Ochan Puot who they accused of working to destabilize Maiwut and other parts of Upper Nile state.

Speaking to Sudans Post this afternoon, a senior army official who refused to be named said General Ochan has been appointed by President Kiir to head the special forces in Maiwut and is set to return to the former opposition stronghold in the few coming weeks.

“This is to inform you that General Ochan Puot will return to Maiwut in the next few weeks as the commander of the special forces,” the officer said from the capital Juba.

“He was appointed by President Salva Kiir Mayardit this week and he will return to organize his forces,” the military officer added.