The South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) have clashed in Unity State Sunday morning in another round of military confrontation.
Puok Both Baluang, the Acting Press Secretary in the Office of the 1st Vice President Riek Machar and Director of Information & Public Relations for the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), claimed that the government forces provoked the opposition side.
Mr Baluang claimed that it was for the second time that SPLM-IG forces are waging aggressive attacks in their territory.
“10/02/2022 & this morning, SPLM (IG) forces under the command of Koch County Commissioner in Unity State launched aggressive attacks on Mirmir cantonment site,” Baluang said on Twitter Sunday.
“However, they were repulsed by SPLA (IO),” he continued. The information director did not reveal whether there were casualties involved during the confrontation.
He claimed that the continuous attacks were meant to weaken the Machar-led movement and throw the Revitalized Peace Agreement in jeopardy.
“These attacks are an attempt to weaken the SPLA (IO) & derail the R-ARCSS, if possible,” Baluang said referring to the recent spate of attacks, including from SPLA-IO Kitgwang forces under the command of Lt. Gen. Simon Gatwech.
An attempt to get comments from SSPDF Spokesperson Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai was unsuccessful as his phone rang unanswered.
In a previous statement to The City Review, however, Lul absorbed SSPDF from any military confrontation with the SPLA-IO forces.
He dismissed the claim by SPLA-IO that their forces were attacking the opposition with the command from Koch County Commissioner.
“The commissioner of Koch County does not have forces under his command; we don’t have our forces that are being commanded by the commissioner,” Lul was quoted by The City Review earlier this week.
“We have our regular commander who commands our troops. So, in the first place, the accusation on that basis that our commissioner ordered forces to attack them is not true because, we don’t have forces at Mirmir, our forces are in Leer,” he added.
Lul claimed that Koch County was also a hotspot of violence between armed civilians and SPLA-IO forces.
“This one has been going on now for about two months. Sometimes back then there were armed civilians that were arrested by SPLA-IO. Sometimes, back at Mirmir in Koch County, there was a disagreement between the SPLA-IO. They went around arresting civilians, and you know, most of the communities in that area are heavily armed,” he noted.