South Sudan President Salva Kiir converted the national army into his own tribal militia, the opposition said.
Leaders of South Sudan Opposition (SPLM/A) claimed the national army had ceased to exist after the President systematically enthicised it by appointing only people from his Dinka community following the outbreak of conflict in Juba last year.
“The current army led by President Salva Kiir is not national anymore; it is a militia because he recruited individuals from his own tribe during the ongoing war,” said Mr Edward Abyei Lino, the Opposition SPLM/A Advisor at a press conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tuesday.
“The entire military has to be restructured and reunited,” he said, echoing Chief Negotiator Taban Deng Gai’s call for the immediate implementation of federal system in South Sudan with all the ethnic groups equitably represented in the army.
“All the tribes in the country must be represented during the planned army reform to avert going back to ethnicity politics. As the mediator, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) recently stated, there will be no lasting peace unless power is shared equitably by all South Sudanese,” General Gai said.
He urged the mediator to force President Kiir to withdraw from the nine areas recently occupied by his troops.
Power sharing
“The recent occupation of nine places like oil fields and Unity State is in violation of the agreement we signed. This will affect the sprit of the negotiations. They should withdraw otherwise we will be forced to reclaim those areas,” he said at the press briefing they called to commemorate what they termed ‘anniversary of the Juba genocide crimes against Nuer tribes on December 15, 2013’.
The Opposition called on Ugandan forces to withdraw from South Sudan, saying the peace keeping task during the military reform should be handled by independent forces.
According to Igad, hostilities have been ongoing in the north of Jonglei State, particularly Pigi County, since government forces crossed the Sobat River on November 4.
“On December 10, 2014 there was a significant exchange of fire between government forces from the garrison at Nassir and fighters loyal to the SPLM/A (IO) in the area of Kedbeck Village, Upper Nile State. As a result of investigations, and the evidence collated, it is the opinion of the JTC that government forces violated the articles of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA), 23 January
2014 in Nassir, Upper Nile State, on 10 December 2014,” Igad’s statement released this week, indicated.
The Opposition leaders hoped that the power sharing plan under federal system with a prime minister as head of government and a president as head of state, which was rejected by President Kiir, would eventually be signed.
Igad chief mediator Seyoum Mesfin on Monday said: “Today, there is still much uncertainty about your country’s future. “Until today, nobody knows how many thousands have been killed. The war is so cruel that nobody has even indicated whether they hold prisoners of war. Millions are displaced inside South Sudan and to neighbouring countries. Millions more are struggling to survive. And the war continues to claim the lives of combatants and innocent civilians”.
Africa Review
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