![SPLA-IO deputy spokesman Col. Lam Paul Gabriel speaks to media about the progress and challenges facing the transitional security arrangement in Juba on October 2, 2019. [Photo by Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Lam.jpg?ssl=1)
In a statement today, SPLM-IO spokesperson Pal Mai Deng said a handwritten order circulating on social media and allegedly signed by Sector Three Commander Major General John Luk Bayak was not authentic.
“This order for forceful confiscation of NGOs vehicles was not written by Gen. John Luk Bayak; The SPLA-IO Sector Three commander in charge of Jonglei-Equatoria front,” Pal said in the statement.
“The order was and is a forgery. An investigation on who is responsible is under way, and an order of immediate return of any vehicle to its NGO, if any, has been issued by Gen. John Luk,” he added.
Pal said Gen. Luk did not author or authorise any instruction for the forceful confiscation of NGO vehicles operating along the Jonglei–Equatoria front. He added that Gen. Luk had already ordered the immediate return of any vehicles taken from humanitarian organisations, should any confiscation have occurred.
The clarification followed reports that armed individuals seized three NGO vehicles in Walgak, Akobo County, allegedly acting on the basis of the purported order.
In a separate statement issued the same day, Col. Lam Paul Gabriel, spokesperson for the opposition’s military wing, acknowledged that a “communication error” had led to what he described as the unexpected acquisition of the vehicles by individuals who falsely claimed to be acting under the authority of Sector Three command.
According to Lam, the SPLA-IO Acting Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Peter Thok Chuol Lual, had assured concerned parties that the incident was regrettable and would be rectified swiftly.
He said those found responsible would be held accountable and reaffirmed the group’s commitment to protecting civilians, including humanitarian workers operating in opposition-controlled areas.
The SPLM-IO denial came a day after Western envoys, led by the United States and joined by the embassies of Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, condemned what they described as an order by a senior opposition commander to seize aid vehicles in northern Jonglei.
The diplomats said the reported directive was a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian principles,” warning that any attempt to confiscate humanitarian assets places aid workers in danger.
They called for the immediate reversal of the order and the return of any seized vehicles, stressing that no party in South Sudan has the right to confiscate equipment provided by donor governments for life-saving assistance.
Humanitarian organisations operate in increasingly volatile conditions in Jonglei and other parts of South Sudan, where clashes between government and opposition forces, access restrictions and armed violence have repeatedly disrupted aid delivery amid widespread displacement and seasonal flooding.
