Riek Machar’s rebels attacked an outpost on Sunday in violation of Cessation of Hostilities

For Immediate Release
April, 14, 2014
The rebel forces of renegade Riek Machar attacked the government’s outpost of Tor Abieth at 16:20pm on Sunday, April, 13. The garrison is at the border of Mayom and Biemnon counties close to the Sudanese border. The gallant SPLA forces repulsed the attack of about 500 rebels and chased them towards the Sudanese border. The SPLA forces, commanded by Maj. Gen. Mathews Puljang, inflicted a lot of casualties on the rebels. The SPLA killed 50 rebels and captured fifty AK-47s and ammos.

The rebels’ attack happened two days after the IGAD’s Cessation of Hostilities monitoring team began their deployment to ensure that the warring parties observe the CoH signed on January, 23rd. The rejection of the CoH by the rebels is not something new because Riek Machar made it abundantly clear last week that his forces would attack the oilfields regardless of Cessation of Hostilities Agreement.

The Government of South Sudan calls upon the IGAD and the international community to condemn the blatant violation of the Cessation of Hostilities signed in January. The attack of Tor Abieth confirmed the interviews journalists conducted last week in Nasir town where the rebel commanders admitted that Riek Machar did not order them to observe the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. It’s now clear that the rebels are not interested in observing the agreement signed in Addis Ababa to cease the hostilities.

We would like to assure the civilians in Unity state that the rebels will never reach Bentiu town as they falsely alleged. The gallant forces of the SPLA already defeated them at Tor Abieth and will pursue them so that they don’t come back to pose any danger to farmers of Mayom and Biemnon counties. The month of May is the time farmers of Unity state begin cultivation and the SPLA has a duty to protect the civilians from terrorists who don’t respect CoH mediated by the regional body.
We therefore call upon IGAD countries and the African Union to declare Riek Machar as an enemy of peace in the region. His consistent rejection of the CoH is a proof that he is not interested in the peaceful settlement of the conflict that he started by staging a failed coup on December, 15, 2013. It is clear that the anti-peace elements of Riek Machar will never respect the will of the international community and they should be therefore branded as terrorists who have no political objective.

For contact:
Mr. Gordon Buay
Former Spokesman of SSLM/A leadership Council
Member of Other Armed Groups Integration Committee
Email: [email protected]