South Sudan rebels warn of violence over rights ‘abuse’
JUBA, South Sudan — A South Sudan rebel group has urged aid agencies to leave oil-rich Unity state within a week for their own safety, warning on Friday that locals will resort to violence against the governor over alleged rights abuses.
The South Sudan Liberation Movement/Army has accused Governor Taban Deng of “intentionally abusing human rights of innocent civilians in Mayom and Nhial Diew counties” by ordering the confiscation of cattle from relatives of SSLM/A commanders, detaining and beating them.
“SSLA is calling upon all NGOs and UN personnel to leave Unity State within a week for their own safety because the people of the state will violently resist the regime of Governor Taban Deng through popular uprisings that may include the use of force,” a statement from SSLA/M headquarters in Mayom county warned.
The rebel group is made up of forces formerly loyal to Peter Gadet, who accepted South Sudan President Salva Kiir’s offer of amnesty in August, a month after the country gained independence from the north after a 22-year civil war between Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army.
While Gadet was reintegrated into the SPLA, an unknown number of men opposed to the amnesty offer claim that Deng, “ordered the SPLA soldiers to divorce the wives of SSLA commanders by confiscating the cattle they paid in dowries from their in-laws”, under the area’s Nuer tribe marriage customs.
According to the statement, SPLA forces went to Nhial Diew on October 18 and “arrested three wives of SSLM/A commander Kol Chara Nyang and seized 400 cattle from his in-laws.”
“The fathers-in-law of Commander Kol Chara were advised that their daughters would no longer be married to him and should look for new husbands.”
South Sudan has millions of cows that are used purely for a dowry, and men from many tribes cannot get married without paying the family’s asking price, spurring much cattle raiding that leaves thousands dead each year.
The group also claimed that eight relatives were detained in unknown locations and “subjected to harsh and cruel treatments such as beatings.”
The group has called the alleged acts “a flagrant violation of both international laws and Transitional Constitution of South Sudan”, as well as local customs.
SPLA spokesman based in the capital Juba, Colonel Philip Aguer, could not comment on the rebels claims, but said “we know that this group has been laying mines in Unity.”
There was no immediate comment from Taban, UN and Unity state officials.
Demining agencies have raised the alarm over the rapid relaying of mines in the new country’s best oil-producing state as incidents increase. The latest accident on October 12 in Mayom county killed 20 people when an anti-tank mine exploded under a passenger bus.
The UN Mine Action Coordination Centre has said it will ramp up efforts in Unity due to the increase in incidents that threatens not only the fledgling country’s economic lifeblood but aid access and many civilians in the largely pastoralist state that have drastically reduced movement due to mine fears.
Dozens of aid agencies like Care International, The International Rescue Committee, Medecins Sans Frontieres and The International Committee of the Red Cross are working in Unity alongside a large UN presence.
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