SPLM-DC Press Release

The "Alwan" Arabic daily, issue No. 4510 dated March 9, 2011, reported a statement attributed to Colonel Philip Aguer, the Spokesman of the SPLA that, "Olweny was a former member of the militia loyal to the political  leader, Lam Akol, founder of SPLM-DC,  but we do not know whether he is still linked to it up to now". On this statement, we would like to make clear the following facts:

1.      The statement suggests that there is militia loyal to the Chairman of our party. This is an outright lie that has been repeated time and again by the SPLM for obvious reasons. However, it is really sad that such an unsubstantiated lie could come from the mouth of the Spokesman of an army expected to be neutral and far from partisan politics.

2.      The man called Olony is one of the many Shilluk youth that took up arms more than three years ago when the Shilluk land suffered an unprovoked attack by others. The group has been staying in the area ever since, and we do not know that they have a political agenda other than to protect the borders of the Shilluk land.

3.      The SPLA in Upper Nile State reached an agreement with this group on the cessation of hostilities and the SPLA allocated to them (Dur) village, near Oweci, to be the area of their presence. When this agreement between this group and the SPLA was reached, didn't the SPLA know who they were and to whom they were affiliated for the Spokesman of the same SPLA to say what he said as above? Is it ignorance or malice?

4.      The recent fighting resulted from the attack launched by the SPLA on the positions of this group and not the other way round as is claimed by the Spokesman of the SPLA. All in the area and in Malakal town agree that it was a force of the SPLA that attacked this group in (Dur), around eleven o'clock on the morning of Sunday, the 6^th of March instant.

5.      Many lives of innocent citizens were lost as a result of this fighting and some of them were killed in cold blood away from the battlefield.

The SPLM-DC would like to reiterate that it is purely a political party and has no military formations affiliated to it. Anyone who claims otherwise is trying to smear the good name of our party and we will not be silent about it.

We also call for an independent investigation to be carried out by the United Nations, voluntary organizations and civil society organizations working in the area on the circumstances of the recent fighting. In particular,

1.      The claim that rape is behind the dispute that led to the fighting.

2.      Who attacked the other first?

3.      Who is responsible for the killing of innocent citizens?

This investigation is the only way to dig out the facts so as to clearly determine who is responsible for what.

Dr Peter Adwok Otto,

Spokesman, SPLM-DC.