By Awan Achiek
The Former First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar has strongly denied allegations that he ordered the late Maj. Gen. David Majur Dak to surrender during the March 2025 fighting in Nasir, Upper Nile State. He told the court that he instead made efforts to secure the general’s peaceful evacuation following the outbreak of hostilities.
Testifying during the 126th session of his trial on Monday, Machar rejected the allegation as untrue, maintaining that his intervention came after a meeting of the presidency following the fighting that erupted in Nasir on March 3, 2025.
He stated that he did his best to ensure Majur Dak’s safe evacuation from the area.
“I was also accused of having told the late Gen. David Majur Dak to surrender. This is not true,” Machar said.
“Since the fighting started in Nasir on March 3, 2025, and following a meeting of the presidency, I did my best to ensure that Gen. David Majur Dak was evacuated peacefully.”
Machar dismissed claims that he instructed Majur Dak to surrender, describing the allegations as politically motivated.
“I will excuse those who said I asked him to surrender if they were not aware of the facts. However, those who knew the facts and the efforts I made, but still made such statements against me, were politically motivated,” he stated.
Machar also denied allegations that he and local youths held between 170 and 176 survivors of the March 2025 Nasir incident hostage.
He insisted that he instead intervened to facilitate the evacuation of the survivors from Nasir to Juba, made possible through his actions following the fighting on March 3, 2025.
He noted that the allegation of detaining survivors was also made by former Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Paul Nang.
“I was accused of holding 170 or 176 survivors of the Nasir incident hostage, together with the youths. The same statement was also echoed by Gen. Paul Nang, the then Chief of Defence Forces,” Machar said.
He highlighted that more than 20 violent clashes occurred between government forces and local youths in Nasir and Ulang Counties over the seven years following the signing of the 2018 peace agreement.
The violence primarily involved youths from Nasir town and surrounding areas, despite efforts to establish good relations between government troops and local residents.
Machar traced the clashes to August 20, 2020, stating that incidents continued through September 4 of the same year and May 11–12, 2021.
He also cited further outbreaks of violence between February and May 2022, February 10–12, 2024, and several incidents between July 6 and August 17, 2024.
According to Machar, 12 separate incidents occurred during the July–August 2024 period alone.
He further identified February 14, 2025, and March 3–4, 2025, as dates of additional violence, with the latter becoming widely known as the Nasir incident.
Explaining one of the earliest major confrontations, Machar said the May 11–12, 2021, clashes began following a disagreement over the sale of an AK-47 rifle at the Nasir town market.
He told the court that an SSPDF soldier had taken the rifle to the market for sale when three youths from surrounding areas attempted to buy it.
According to Machar, a disagreement broke out, during which one of the youths shot the soldier dead, took the rifle, and returned to his village.
Machar and seven co-accused face charges arising from the Nasir clashes, including treason, murder, conspiracy, terrorism, destruction of public property, and crimes against humanity. They deny the charges.
Prosecutors allege that forces aligned with the SPLM/A-IO and the White Army attacked a government garrison in Nasir, killing 257 soldiers, including Gen. David Majur Dak, and destroying or seizing military equipment worth approximately US$58 million.
The court adjourned the session until Friday, November 6, 2026, for Machar to continue his defense statement.
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