Conflict on choice of party leaders fueling crisis in South Sudan

By SUNDAY STANDARD TEAM

SOUTH SUDAN: The clashes that erupted after a disagreement at a Sudanese People Liberation Movement (SPLM) meeting at Nyakuruon Cultural Centre, to choose party leaders continues raging in South Sudan.

Efforts by neighbouring countries to stop the hostilities appear to have failed. South Sudan turned chaotic, when Politician Riek Machar and his allied members stormed out of the meeting, over the disagreement on the party election modalities.

The group allied to Machar wanted it to be done using the secret ballot, but the president’s side wanted it through acclamation (by show of hands).

Though the Information Minister Marial Benjamin gave a conflicting story on his briefing to the diplomatic community that fighting erupted after the NLC endorsed the recommendation from the investigation committee that had recommended that the former SPLM secretary general pagan amum be stripped off all his functions in the party, he was also criticised for his mismanagement of the party and corruption.

When Machar and his allies stormed out of the meeting, a commotion between the bodyguards of Salva Kiir and Machar ensued at the carpark.

It prompted the other Machar bodyguards who were outside the Nyakuruon Cultural Centre to open fire.

Overpowered Dinka

Nuer presidential guards then began fighting their Dinka counterparts inside the military barrack situated at the Custom Jebel market area 3Km from Juba University.

The Nuer forces that are allied to Machar overpowered the Dinka forces that are allied to the president and chased them out of the military barrack, leaving scores of them dead.

The surrounding military barracks are heavily populated with traders, majority of them Ugandans who ply their trade at the Custom Jebel Market with local Sudanese inhabiting the southern side of this barrack also known as the Lologo area.

At around 11pm that night, Custom Jebel and Lologo became a battlefield, with the Dinka forces allied to Kiir fighting to recapture the military barracks. They fused heavy machine guns that could be heard kilometres away, and but the Dinka forces failed to recapture the military barrack.

Bodies could be seen in the area on the Monday morning of December 16, a majority of them civilian casualties caught in the overnight crossfire before Juba went silent for  two hours in the morning.

At about 8am on the same day, heavy fighting erupted again at Bilpam barracks located at New Site in Juba, where heavy explosions of motors fired from the Sudanese army T 72 Russian made tanks could be seen from the barracks.

The new fighting erupted after the Nuer forces tried to capture the Bilpam barrack as well as Brigadier Simon Yein Makauc a Nuer from Akobo who was incharge of the presidential guard and was alleged to have been killed in the shootout.

As word went round that the second military barrack had fallen to Machar allied rebels, most of the mobile networks including Gemtell and Vivacell telecom went off air, no news came from the radio stations, as all stations including Miraya FM and Capital FM  turned to playing music.

The fighting became so intense that Oscar 1 (the president) had already put in place option B, said the source.

All the borders and Juba airport were shut down, and no UN flight was allowed to leave because of fears within government and perception that they were secretly backing Machar.

The UN could not carry out any evacuations as all their planes were not permitted to fly.

Kept in anxiety

The whole country was kept in anxiety as no information was forthcoming from the government.

Most of the civilians took refuge at the UNMISS Compound next to the airport, with causalities getting treated at the UNMISS hospital.

Other civilians took refuge at the UN House next to Jebel mountain in Juba, along Yei Road. On the battle front, the Dinka forces loyal to the president led by Commander Isaac Obote Mamur were still fighting the Nuer forces at Bilpma Barracks.

Mamur, one of the most feared generals was recently appointed to head the Internal Security docket.

Kiir’s forces managed to repulse the Nuer forces as guns went silent at around 2pm.

The Dinka forces then moved to the Jebel Custom military barrack with pickup vehicles mounted with artillery guns and tanks leading to a fierce fight that lasted for several hours.

The Nuer forces led and managed to escape with an unknown amount of weapons.

After Nuer forces were driven out of town, Kiir (Osca 1) dressed in the military uniform called for a press briefing and addressed the nation and ordered a curfew from 6pm to 6am.

Sporadic shooting continued at night as the presidential guards (Tiger boys) searched Nuer family homes, hunting down mutineers and rebels with horrible things reported to have happened.  Roadblocks were mounted on all roads to the ministries and airport.  The military demanded identification documents, Nuer’s suspected to have been involved were dragged out of the vehicles and loaded into pickups and taken to an unknown destination.

Heavy fighting again erupted in the Bilpam barracks the next morning at around 8am on the Tuesday of December 17 2013 when Nuer forces regrouped and launched a massive offensive on the Bilpam barrack.

Heavy artilleries and tanks motors could be heard around the military barrack for than three hours.

The fight spread into Juba town as residents in Tongping, Malakia, Konyonokonyo and Gudele experienced heavy fighting along the streets, with tanks rumbling along the streets.  Some of the Nuer forces had changed into civilians and sneaked back to residential areas.  Heavy blasts were heard from Machar’s residence, which is close to State House, the president’s residence and Rebecca Nyandeng’s residence (home of the late John Garang). It later emerged that some of Machar’s bodyguards were still in his compound. The whole house was blasted with motar from the tanks and flattened as huge black smoke billowed from the ruins of the two storey palace where all the bodyguards were said to have been killed in the blasts.

Out of Juba

The Nuer forces were repulsed and they moved out of Juba towards mangala; reliable sources say the Nuer forces were 5000 to 7000. It is purported Machar and Taban Deng Gai, the former governor of Unity State was with the Nuer forces to Mangala.

They attacked a cattle camp belonging to Mundari community North of Juba and drove the herd with them towards Mangala. They overran the army barrack at Mangala and set base along River Nile.

It is alleged that here is when logistics were quickly conducted to reorganise and hit back.