News

SPLA clashed with Athor’s Loyalists, 13 dead

News, Top Stories

June 16, 2010 (Khartoum) — South Sudan’s army said on Wednesday 10 members of a renegade militia and three soldiers were killed in a gunbattle in the region’s Jonglei oil state.

A 35-strong search team came across George Athor’s rebels on Tuesday, a day after it had flushed him out of a hideout, according to the southern army (SPLA).

Athor launched a rebellion after failing to win Jonglei’s governorship in an April election, accusing the south’s dominant Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) of rigging the vote. Last month Athor said he was coordinating attacks with two other militia leaders in Jonglei and neighbouring Unity state, raising fears for regional stability in the run-up to a potentially explosive secession referendum due in January 2011.

There have been reports of scattered attacks but they have not coalesced into a large uprising.

"The reconnaissance platoon found his new place suddenly and there was an exchange of fire near Dier village in Khorfulus County," SPLA spokesman Kuol Diem Kuol said.

"From the SPLA side, three were killed and eight wounded and from Athor’s side 10 killed."

Athor did not answer calls on Wednesday.

Earlier Kuol said SPLA troops attacked Athor’s forces in the village of Wunlam on Monday night, after they were led to the hideout, also in Khorfulus County, by one of Athor’s men captured in an earlier fight.

"He is running with less than 30 soldiers. They are his close relatives from the village … Our forces are now pursuing him. We expect his capture within days," said Kuol, adding the SPLA captured 13 of Athor’s men and radio equipment on Monday.

Last week the SPLA said it chased militia commander Galwak Gai out of his base in Unity state, which includes oilfields operated by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC), a consortium led by China’s CNPC. French group Total holds a largely unexplored oil concession in Jonglei.

South Sudan, the source of most of Sudan’s oil, secured a referendum on whether to split off as a separate country in a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war with the north.

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SPLM Unseats Members of SPLM-DC from Juba-based Legislative Assembly

Press Releases

June 8, 2010 (SSNA) — The unhealthy relationship between the leaders of the SPLM and SPLM-DC has today taken an unexpected turn. The SPLM dominated Southern Parliament has lifted immunity from four parliamentarians who are belong to the SPLM-DC. Bellow is a press statement released to the media by the SPLM-DC:

 
 
SUDAN PEOPLE’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT- DEMOCRATIC CHANGE
 
Date: 8 June, 2010
 
THE SPLM-DOMINATED SOUTHERN SUDAN LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY TAKES THE FIRST STEP TO UNSEAT SPLM-DC MEMBERS.
 
In a new, though not surprising, twist of events, the SPLM-dominated Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA) today lifted the immunity of the four members of SPLM-DC in the Assembly. The move came on a request presented to the Speaker by the Minister of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development to lift the immunity of the SPLM-DC members in the SSLA. It is said that the Minister was acting on the request of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) in relation to the case of the slain Paramount Chief of Panyikang on the 22nd of May.
 
The matter was speedily moved and within a short time, the SPLM-dominated SSLA granted the Minister what he wanted and resolved that the immunity of the four members be lifted and that they be taken to Malakal under arrest for investigation.
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Speech by the Chairman on the First Anniversary of Launching the Public Activities of SPLM-DC

Press Releases

Khartoum, 5 June 2010

Distinguished Guests, Dear Comrades,

June 6, 2010 (Khartoum) — I welcome you warmly and thank you for having attended this occasion, which is dear to our hearts, that is, the first anniversary of the founding of the SPLM-DC. I welcome in a special way the distinguished guests who travelled long distances and came from all the States of Sudan to prove to the world that this is a great party and can accommodate all. We appreciate your coming and welcome you all.

I also thank the organizing committee for a work well done, as well as everybody that has contributed morally and materially towards the success of this gathering.
 
From the outset, I must salute the founders of the SPLM/SPLA who are no longer with us in this world: Akuot Atem de Mayen, the founding Chairman of the Provisional Executive Committee (PEC), Joseph Oduho, Samuel Gai Tut and Martin Majier Gai, all members of the PEC and the Chairman of the Political-Military High Command, Dr. John Garang de Mabior and members of the PMHC: Kerubino Kuanyin Bol, William Nyuon Bany, Arok Thon Arok, John Kulang Puot, Martin Manyiel Ayuel and Galerio Modi Hurnyang. We also remember the memory of our senior commanders who watered the tree of freedom with their blood. On this auspicious occasion, I also salute all the martyrs on both sides of the civil war who made the ultimate sacrifice to bring about the peace we enjoy today in our beloved country. We also remember all the martyrs of our nation-state throughout their struggle for freedom and dignity. Death has also robbed us of our dear brother, Dominic Maku, the Acting Representative of the Party in Canada, who passed away on the 21st of May. He served SPLM-DC with dedication and self-denial. We bow in respect to them all.
 
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Former Jonglei Gubernatorial Candidate, Warns Southern Leaders, Reaffirms his Commitment to the CPA

Press Releases

Date: 28 May 2010

Statement by Lt General George Athor Deng on the Referendum on Self-determination of Southern Sudan

May 30, 2010 (Southern Sudan) — In my statement on the 7th instant, I explained the situation that was created by the ruling clique in Juba due to the use of the SPLA and other security organs by them in rigging the general elections, their plan to attack me and the fighting that ensued. I outlined a two-point programme as a way out to stop the fratricide now developing, and concluded by the following statement:

I reaffirm my commitment to the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), especially the conduct of the referendum on Self-determination in 2011.

Since then the response of the Government of Southern Sudan was a decision by its Council of Ministers ruling out any talks with me and ordering its army to capture me “dead or alive”. Well, despite the intense propaganda by the clique in Juba downplaying the gravity of the situation, the grand military offensive to fight me mounted under the command of Major General Bol Kong suffered from internal dissent and mutiny, and finally collapsed four days ago. This dashed the hopes of the war-mongers in Juba on a quick defeat of the Southern Uprising against those who stole their will. The Uprising is now spreading as evidenced by the military actions in Pibor area these days, Upper Nile last week, Juba-Bor road and in Unity State today. More surprises are awaiting the ruling clique in Juba. Those in Juba who dream of wishing away this revolution should think again.

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The Elections in Southern Sudan are shame, fraudulent and Farcical

Press Releases

Public Statement 

April 27, 2010 (Juba) — The National Elections Commission (NEC) announced yesterday the final results of the General Elections in Southern Sudan. This entails elections for the President of the Republic, the President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Governors for the ten States and members of the Legislative Assemblies on the three levels of Government. The results that the National Elections Commission has announced for the three levels of Government in Southern Sudan are not acceptable to us because there were not free and fair. Indeed, these elections in the South were managed and rigged by the SPLA, the army of South Sudan and not by the election commission which had absolutely no presence in Southern Sudan.

A free and fair election requires that there must be a level field for all the political parties and individuals seeking election, a neutral and independent National Elections Commission and a conductive atmosphere for the process. The presence of national and international monitors is supposed to ensure that the elections process is transparent and that voters are free to choose the candidates of their preference. 

Regarding a level field for political activities, this was non-existent in Southern Sudan for the last five years. Political parties and individuals other than the SPLM were denied the right to propagate their ideas and policies in the South. Despite this limitation many saw the elections as an opening for the parties and individuals to present themselves to the people. The political parties in Southern Sudan even signed with the SPLM an Electoral Code of Conduct on the 2nd of March 2010 under the aegis of the AU High Level Implementation Panel. This Code was not implemented.

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USSP Condemns the Repeated Detentions of its Leader

News, Press Releases

Press Release

April 16, 2010 (SSNA) — The United South Sudan Party (USSP) condemns in the strongest terms all the harassments and detentions to which it’s Leader, Mr. Clement Juma Mbungoniwia was unnecessary and illegally exposed.

Mr. Mbungoniwia, a lawyer by profession, was detained several times on Tuesday 13th and Wednesday 14 April 2010, by the security personnel and the police while in Source Yubu Payam, Western Equatoria State, in south Sudan,and was lastly asked to leave the Payam for Tambura, together with a truck that was hired by the USSP to transport its supporters from Mabenge to Kpatanayo polling station.

However while in Tambura, the Supreme Judge was able to free Mr. Mbungoniwia, and asked him to return to Source Yubu and resume his political activities normally as none has the right to arrest him (Mbungoniwia) without first consulting with the Supreme Judge’s Office given the former’s legal background.

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