SPLA Urges SAF To Respect Ceasefire Agreemnts Signed And Refrain From Provoking Situations

12 November 2010 – (Juba) – The SPLA is calling on the Sudan Armed Forces to respect the ceasefire agreement and deviate from any provocative actions that would return the country back to war.

SPLA accused SAF components in the Joint Integrated Units of a series of incidences that are allegedly directed at civil population.

In an exclusive interview with SRS at Bilpam in Juba on Friday, the newly appointed spokesman of the SPLA, Colonel Philip Aguer Panyang said that SAF soldiers went on a rampage in Melut town, Upper Nile states on Monday 8th of November, 2010 killing one little girl and wounding others.

[Philip Aguer Panyang]: “It started at 8:30PM when SAF component of JIU started random shooting in Melut towards the SPLA side, at UNMIS and into the town. It continued for more than four hours. The results of these random shooting lead to the death of a young girl who died of shock, and it also lead to the wounding of a trader from Falata community and a policeman of Melut police force. During this provocation, the SPLA only took cover and remained calm. In the morning when we asked the reason for the provocation, SAF command in the area stated that those were drunken soldiers.”

Philip Aguer added that any provocative act by either the SPLA or the SAF is against the CPA and affirmed the commitment of the SPLA to maintaining stability.

[Philip Aguer Panyang]: “Of course this is a violation of the spirit of the ceasefire as mentioned in the CPA. SAF’s JIU has repeatedly been provoking violence in many places; they did it in Malakal and recently in Abyei in disrespect to the local and international standard for maintaining ceasefire. As SPLA, we are wholeheartedly committed to the maintenance of peace in the Sudan and in the region. We would wish SAF command to reciprocate by controlling their soldiers and avoid play with the lives of innocent civilians.”

During a joint press briefing in Khartoum on Thursday, the minister of SPLA and War veterans’ affairs, Nhial Deng and the federal Minister of Defense, Abdel-Rahim Mohamed pledged not to return to war saying any differences shall be resolved politically.