South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The Commissioner of Morobo County in Central Equatoria State, Charles Data Bullen, urgently requested the deployment of South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) in the area on Wednesday to address escalating violence following last week’s clashes with SPLA-IO troops.
“I therefore called for the deployment of SSPDF forces in areas previously occupied by the IOs, so our people can safely return to their homes,” Data stated during a rally in Morobo town.
He also noted that remnants of SPLA-IO forces continue to remain in Morobo County.
Data claimed that the SPLA-IO’s presence in Panyume over the past eight years has posed a serious security threat, including the misuse of county resources.
“The presence of the IO in Panyume has been a major obstacle to many activities that the payam should have benefited from, and this difficulty has also extended to other Bomas neighboring payams,” he said.
Data accused the SPLA-IO forces of engaging in logging, looting civilians’ property, unlawful arrests, road ambushes, and killings.
“Some of the challenges faced in the last eight years in those parts of Morobo include the looting of civilians’ properties by outgoing rebels, unlawful arrests, the torture of civilians by IO forces, and unaccounted killings of civilians and other road users,” he said.
“There has been severe deforestation, charcoal production, and logging in Panyume by the IOs, as well as illegal mining of our natural resources, including gold, which has been mined by the IOs to strengthen their rebel activities.”
He accused SPLA-IO forces of restricting the movement of county administrators and humanitarian aid workers, hindering service delivery to Panyume payam.
Data urged the state government to take urgent action to address insecurity in the area to restore peace and stability.
“The fighting in recent weeks has affected our people throughout the entire county. In one way or another, most of our people in Morobo who had returned home from the camps have been forced to leave their homes and properties.”
He stated that last week’s violence forced civilians to flee across the border to Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, while thousands have been displaced internally.
