Opposition calls for immediate release of arrested party members
Read also Simon Boboya\'s article \"Instability rising with new clashes in Malakal\"
The arrests were made by the Sudan People\'s Liberation Army (SPLA) during a five-day period beginning March 12 in three towns following clashes in Malakal, the regional capital of Upper Nile State. The appeal was issued by Onyoti Adigo Nyikwec, who heads the opposition Sudan People\'s Liberation Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) at the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA). It was echoed by prominent figures of other political parties in South Sudan.
The arrests in Malakal, Renk and Doleib followed fighting in Malakal earlier this month, which is alleged by the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) to have been instigated by the SPLM-DC.
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The South Sudan Political Parties, an umbrella group that includes the United Democratic Front (UDF), the SPLM-DC, the United South Sudan Party (USSP) and the National Democratic Front (NDF), unanimously refuted the allegations made by SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum as \"reckless\".
Addressing reporters, Peter Abdelrahman Sule, chairman of the UDF, said that the SPLM’s allegations came as no surprise because Amum has made previous accusations that the SPLM-DC had militias operating in Shilluk land, a charge he denies.
SPLM-DC has no armed group, nor does it have any intention of forming any militia group.
\"I would appeal to you as a citizen of South Sudan,\" he said, insisting that the SPLM-DC has \"no armed group, nor does it have any intention of forming any militia group\".
Sule called on the international community and NGOs to investigate the recent killings and looting in Upper Nile State. He further attributed the SPLM’s accusations to \"mere personal hatred\" of the SPLM-DC’s leader, Dr. Lam Akol, who heads the party that broke away from the SPLM in 2009.
\"Whenever (SPLM Secretary General) Pagan finds that Dr. Lam is becoming closer to President Salva Kiir,\" Sule told a local newspaper in reference to rapprochement among South Sudanese political groups, \"he does not like it\".
Get the Small Arms Survey update on the SPLM/A-Shilluk Conflict in Upper Nile
Sule added that the soldier known as Oliny, whom the SPLM has linked to the SPLM-DC, was awaiting integration until he clashed with the SPLA who attacked his base on March 6.
