Unity State governor, Dr. Joseph Monytuil, failed to honour summon by the Council of State to answer questions on insecurity in Leer County.
Four state governors, one chief administrator, and four national ministers among them the Minister of President Affairs Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin had also been summoned to testify before the Parliament in Juba on Wednesday.
The lawmakers summoned them to brief the August House on security threats and cattle herders’ incursions in Easter Equatoria State’s Magwi County and Central Equatoria State, as well as persistent insecurity in Leer County, Unity State.
The two governors of CES and EES, as well as Dr Barnaba Marial Benjamin and Mahmoud Solomon (Minister of Interior), appeared before the legislature to answer questions posed by the house. However, governor Monytuil, the Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs, Angekina Teny, and the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Peter Mayen did not appear for questioning.
However, Unity State youth league of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM/M) published a statement yesterday, dismissing what they termed as SPLM-IO conspiracy and media campaign against Governor Monytuil.
The youths accused the SPLM-IO and ‘‘cyber-net users’’ of stirring the deadly conflict in the state’s southern region and creating massive anti-government sentiment.
The SPLM youth league demanded that the SPLM-IO admit the atrocities committed in Mayendit, Koch, and Leer and apologise to the civilian population for the lives lost in the battle.
In Southern Unity State, the young have called for calm and urged the public to ignore what they see as SPLM-IO misinformation on social media against the governor’s leadership.
They said that the photographs and videos of what happened in Leer that were shared on social media were unverified and were an attempt by SPLM-IO to prove their accusations.
‘‘Monytuil clean’’
“It is noticed that SPLM-IO is spreading false information to the public through its affiliated organizations like the group calling themselves Unity State youth for activism, Unity State diaspora organisations and individuals sponsored articles that aim at degrading and undermining the effort exerted by the governor to de-escalate the conflict in Southern Unity State,” the Unity State SPLM youth claimed in their statement.
This comes after a Member of Parliament from Leer County in the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA accused the governor and two commissioners from Koch and Leer counties of being behind the attacks.
The legislator termed the governor’s office’s statement unreasonable, claiming that it linked people from the state requesting his dismissal and accused him of being behind the attacks on SPLM-IO influencers.
“What they are saying is totally unjustified. It is actually something they know they have done, and they just want to escape it by all means. What are IO and IG? People died, and did he question why people died? He did not. Then how do you say that? ” Mr. Badit questioned the governor’s office.
“The three of them are the people responsible for the attack and the lives lost in Leer. It is very clear that these two commissioners, plus the governor himself, it is clear and this is something we cannot hide, “he alleged.
The MP suggested that the President’s high-level committee be dispatched to the ground to investigate the incident and produce a full report on what precipitated the confrontation.
In addition, the SPLA-IO leadership accused the commissioner of Leer County of initiating attacks on the SPLA-base IO’s in Mirmir cantonment, which is under their control, in early February 2022. Since then, the two warring parties have traded accusations, accusing each other of initiating the conflict.
Members of the SPLM-IO suspended their involvement in various security mechanisms last month, citing a breach of the agreement by bombing their bases in the Upper Nile region.
They only agreed to resume participation after signing an agreement on the unification of army command structures earlier this month.