Addis Ababa/Pagak, March 7, 2015 (SSNA) — The Acting spokesman for the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in Opposition (SPLA-IO), Colonel Lony Thichiot Ngundeng, said South Sudan’s government has amassed large forces on two fronts ready to attack rebel outposts at anytime.
The accusation comes few days after IGAD-mediated peace talks between South Sudanese rival sides collapsed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Lony said planned assaults show lack of government’s committed to peace negotiations.
“While the world is busy with peace discussion in Addis Ababa, Kiir’s troops are undermining the peaceful process; this is an indication of serious lack of government’s committed to peace negotiations,” Lony said in a press statement obtained by the South Sudan News Agency (SSNA).
The newly appointed Spokesperson for the SPLA-IO has unveiled what he described as a government’s dry offensive designed to launch simultaneous attacks on rebels’ positions in Jonglei and Upper Nile States.
In the document, Lony outlines places the government intended to attack.
“Government is preparing to launch an attack from Kodok to our positions in Wadakona west Nile…while doing the same towards Mathiang and Maiwut front,” he added.
Lony also disclosed that South Sudan’s government attacked their positions early Saturday and that Juba-backed forces were repulsed and suffered heavy losses.
“Today [this Saturday] early morning government troops attacked our positions in Jerbeni and Dukduk around Renk and Maban our forces repulsed these attacks scoring casualties on the enemy,” Lony revealed.
The SPLA-IO Spokesman also reaffirms rebels’ commitment to peace and calls on IGAD, African Union, Ethiopian government, Troika, Tanzania, and the international community to intervene and stop what he calls “government’s ill intentions.”