JUBA, JULY 2, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – Fierce fighting erupted on Saturday morning between South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) and Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition in Wunkur County of Ruweng Administrative Area along the border with Upper Nile State.
Residents told Sudans Post in several phone calls that the incident occurred when SSPDF soldiers coming from Parieng with the Ruweng chairperson of peace and reconciliation commission started to open fire targeting a senior SPLA-IO commander.
“It started on Saturday at around 9:00AM when the Ruweng head of reconciliation commission come with soldiers who what they said was a peace mission and started shooting at people. They started the shooting targeting a SPLA-IO commander,” one eyewitness said.
“This resulted in armed confrontation between the government soldiers and those from the SPLA-IO and resulted in the wounding of two people and they were defeated to the direction where they were coming from and we haven’t heard anything,” he said.
On its part, Ruweng information ministry claimed that the shooting was started by bodyguards of the SPLA-IO area commander in which two delegates moving with the chairperson of the peace and reconciliation commission were wounded.
“On Saturday, 1 July 2023, the [delegation] held a successful meeting with the officers of SPLA-IO and the meeting was contacted and ended at 10:00 am,” the statement seen by Sudans Post reads in part.
“It was immediately after the meeting that a bodyguard of the commander opened gun fire on the delegation shooting two of the delegates after a handy exchange of bulls as a sign of peace and unity,” it added.
The statement further said that the shooting “was by the SPLA-IO forces loyal to first Vice President Dr. Riak Machar. This will negatively impact the implementation of the peace agreement” and called on peace guarantors and observers to investigate the incident.
