The commander of a South Sudanese army division has warned his troops to avoid political discussions, in order to prevent violent arguments. Specifically he said that they should avoid discussing the issue of federalism.

Major General David Manyok, the SPLA 5th Infantry Division commander, addressed a crowd in Western Bahr el Ghazal State on Wednesday on the occasion of Independence Day. 

He is quoted by Gurtong as saying, “I am telling you this because I do not want similar incident that occurred in Maridi town of Western Equatoria last week whereby a soldier shot dead a civilian with whom they were arguing over the federalism issue.”

“We do not want this to happen here. Leave the civilians to discuss it alone without your participation because your duties are not associated with politics. You are military men,” said the general.

This comes after SPLA soldiers in Maridi in neighboring Western Equatoria State allegedly killed two civilians after a drunken argument about federalism. 

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