WES Condemns SPLA “Brutal” Crackdown in Maridi

Let the public judge from the recent WES Governor visit to the area and in that visit the Governor called on the pastoralists to adhere to the Presidential decree and move their cattle and people from the area to avoid the insecurity because it was clear the local residents cannot live in peace when there are animals and pastoralists encroaching on the same agriculture lands of the local population.

The events that ensured in Maridi was the result of the tension between the two groups which has been boiling for sometimes because cows go to the fields and eat up growing plantations. Indeed there was a grenade attack on a cattle camp at night. However it could have been also someone from the cattle raiders as they often fight one another to settle some previous scores. However regards of that the cattle raiders supported by some elements from the SPLA, on ethnic bases, took their revenge on the local population whereby town centre areas and settlement on Maridi-Rumbek road was vandalized and looted and up to 11 civilians killed.

Indeed some youth organised themselves to face off the marauding raiders who targeted even Government officials as well and tried to assassinate the commissioner of the town, Hon Wilson Thomas, whose house was ransacked by bullets with intention of killing him if he did not flee his house. Further the house of the Political advisor of WES was vandalised and looted when the SPLA was in the neighbourhood.

Our continued appeal for calm to the Army resulted in the case of one SPLA officer being identified by the Division Commander as behind the case of Army involvement in the case of pastoralists attacking local residents and the commander asked for the transfer of the SPLA officer to Lake State. However someone in Juba has sent more forces called SPLA commandos who have now gone to Maridi with the claim of quelling a non-existent rebellion while the case was between local resident sand pastoralists.

We understand this new force is now terrorising the citizen looking for every young men and arresting them and beating them asking them to show rebel camps and then targeting their families. More than 30 young men have been rounded up from villages and their families targeted and a lorry have come to Maridi to take these innocent young men to Juba for nothing.

WES Government condemns this brutal tactics of solving problems as one which will just alienate the population and increase insecurity and violence in WES at a time when we should have been preparing to celebrate our fourth anniversary and reduce the spread of violence to other peaceful areas of South Sudan. Would we like to destroy the whole country before we can achieve peace or would we really be trying to contain violence to where it already occurred so that at least the cost of building this country is minimal afterwards?

As such we appeal to Juba SPLA Headquarters to immediately withdraw the brutalising force from Maridi and Mundri and other areas so that violence is contained and do not spread further. All innocent detained youth should be freed and SPLA should only go after rebels and their camps if at all they are in WES, because rebels have bases and not picking innocent youths from their homes.

Hon Eng. Charles Barnaba Kisanga
WES Minister of Information and Spokesperson WES Government