2 dead from earlier Yambio clashes: officials
An SPLA soldier and a police officer were killed and several others wounded in the clashes which broke out Monday and Tuesday in Yambio of South Sudan's Western Equatoria state, officials said.
SPLA spokesperson Col. Philip Aguer accused a group of Arrow Boys of carrying out three separate attacks on Yambio from Monday until Tuesday.
Aguer said an SPLA soldier was killed and several others wounded in an ambush on a vehicle belonging to police during the Yambio fighting.
“We have lost one SPLA soldiers, but I don’t have details about the wounded” he said, adding that the police vehicle was destroyed.
A source in the office of the Western Equatoria state governor confirmed one police officer was killed and another wounded when the vehicle was ambushed and burned. That source blamed the fighting on rebels under command of Alfred Futiyo, who commands a group calling itself the South Sudan People's Patriotic Front (SSPPF).
Meanwhile, Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, said the fighting was triggered by the arrest of individuals suspected to have connections with the armed youth. The governor's office source confirmed that authorities tried to round up local politicians thought to be organizing rebellion in the state.
Sources in Yambio told Radio Tamazuj that the people arrested included a former county commissioner.
Houses burned
Haq at the UN added that peacekeepers saw several houses burned in Hai Kuba area, which is an area with Dinka residents. Haq said some of the over 300 people who took refuge under peacekeeper protection near the UNMISS base in Yambio have begun to return to the town.
Normal activity has resumed in the Marsia area, a predominately Zande area located west of the Mission’s compound, Haq said, adding that some shops remain closed in the market.
Radio Tamazuj previously reported that many civilians fled Yambio to the south in the direction of Congo border.
Numerous armed groups are present in the Yambio area, including the SPLA which has a barracks in the town, the rebel-aligned SSPPF which has presence to the north and west, and the South Sudan National Liberation Movement under command of Victor Wanga which controls the area toward Congo.
There are also 'Arrow Boys,' a term which refers to community defense groups who organized to fight against the Lord's Resistance Army. However, the term is sometimes used by government officials and others to describe any Western Equatoria youth.
Aguer denies peace agreements
Separately, SPLA spokesperson Aguer said the army is not aware of any peace agreements signed in Mundri, Yambio, or Maridi counties with local populations.
The local community in Mundri, which has also seen heavy clashes this year, signed a church-brokered peace agreement with SPLA soldiers stationed in that area under command of Division 6 leader Johnson Juma Okot Deng. Okot reportedly attended the signing ceremony last month, which was announced by the state government.
The SSNLM also recently signed a peace deal with the national government brokered by church leaders. That deal was sent to President Salva Kiir who reportedly agreed to the terms. That agreement did not include the state government, and the Yambio commissioner was absent during the signing, according to sources in Yambio. Some SSNLM officials have since returned to Yambio town.
But Aguer dismissed the signed agreements as not binding.
“Ask those who signed that agreement, the agreement was between the civil administrations, so we have no evidence that there will be a commitment to what was agreed,” Aguer said.
“The question should be directed to the state governor or Yambio County Commissioner, they are the ones who have knowledge about that agreement” he added, likely referring to the deal with SSNLM.
Aguer stressed that any agreement is the responsibility of the local community and state government. He pointed out that the SPLA didn’t see the agreement up till now.
Related: