Deadly clashes in Unity State leave nine dead and nearly 90 wounded
The SSLA is lead by Peter Gatdet Yaka, a former general who defected to form his own army last year after accusing the SPLA of corruption. Fighting between his rebel militias and the SPLA threatens to destabilise the future South Sudan.
Major General Peter Gatdet. Photo by: Jason BrroksThe latest attack occurred in Mankien Payam of Unity State's Mayom County. SPLA Major General Koang Chuol, operations officer for Division 4 in Unity State, said the rebel militias pushed SPLA forces out of town for about 20 minutes before his army recaptured the area and repelled the rebels from the area south of Mankien, an area bordering Warrap State.
Chuol confirmed the killing of three SPLA soldiers and two policemen, saying 21 troops were seriously wounded. However, a nurse at Mayom County hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the number of injured SPLA troops was 84.
The police were killed by a land mine that exploded while they were trying to help reinforce SPLA forces in Mankien.
For background information check the Small Arms Survey update on "Gadet's rebellion"
Bol Gatkuoth Kol, the SSLA spokesman, told 'sudan votes' that four rebel soldiers were killed in the fighting, with ten wounded. He said the aim of the latest attack was to protest the recent looting of livestock by rustlers from neighbouring Warrap State, who are alleged to have stolen about 13,000 head of cattle from communities in Mayom County.
Kol said the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) hasn't done enough to thwart the cattle robbery. "Our coming to the area was to help the civilians protect their property from those gangs of Warrap," he said.
"Anyone found in areas with militias will be seen as siding with them."
SPLA General Chuol has termed the area south of Mankien a "war zone" and warned civilians there to relocate. "Anyone found in areas with militias will be seen as siding with them," he said. He urged residents to move east of Mayom for their own safety.
Asked how the SPLA would respond if the rebel militias refused to let civilians leave the area, Chuol replied, "We will consider those protecting their property" as a legitimate reason to remain in the area, but "those who may be running with militias will not be tolerated."
Chuol dismissed the militias' claims about the SPLA's incompetence to protect civilians. He asserted the SSLA’s attack was a ploy supported by the Khartoum-backed Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) to destabilise Southern Sudan in the run-up to its official independence on 9 July.
