By William Madouk, Manas James and Yiep Joseph<\/p>\n
Disharmony between South Sudan People’s Defence Force (SSPDF) and armed youth has caused lives of four soldiers, thirteen others injured in Nasir, Upper Nile State.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n According to the army Spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai Koang, SSPDF troops were attacked while gathering firewood approximately 600 miles from their base.<\/p>\n \u201cOn Valentine’s Day, at 3 PM, three servicemen left their defensive trenches to collect firewood. Just about 600 metres away, they were attacked and pursued. The attack resulted in killing of an officer,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n General Ruai reported that another attack was launched two hours later, followed by a third on February 15, 2025, resulting in the martyrdom of four servicemen and the wounding of three others.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bottom line of recurrent attacks on SSPDF defensive position at Wei-Yar-Adiu emanates from SPLA-IO’s constant instigation of armed youth to maintain hostile and offensive posture aimed at curtailing servicemen’s freedom of movement both when on and off duty,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n He claimed that the situation has been compounded by the \u201cappointment of successive hostile SPLA-IO commissioners of Nasir County\u201d along with \u201cunfriendly governor of Upper Nile State.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By William Madouk, Manas James and Yiep Joseph Disharmony between South Sudan People’s Defence Force (SSPDF) and armed youth has caused lives of four soldiers, thirteen others injured in Nasir, Upper Nile State. According to the army Spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai Koang, SSPDF troops were attacked while gathering firewood[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":33405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Armed-men.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33404"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33406,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33404\/revisions\/33406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBoth SPLA-IO command and political leaders had shown a track record of lawlessness and chaos, said Gen. Ruai.
\n\u201cIn the face of continuous hostility, SSPDF remains committed to the full implementation of R-ARCSS in general and transitional security arrangements in particular,\u201d he affirmed.
\nSSPDF calls upon peace monitors to investigate SPLA-IO’s latest violations of the agreement in its governed states of Upper Nile, Western Equatoria and Western Bahr El Ghazal.
\nCommissioner James Gatluak of Nasir County provided conflicting accounts regarding the causes of the recent clashes.
\nIn a statement, he alleged that the army premeditated an attack against civilians, particularly targeting youth and community leaders, during a meeting with UNMISS.
\n\u201cThe attack involved ground forces, military tanks and serious shelling with all types of artilleries aimed at the market and the surroundings. The attack lasted for 3 hours,\u201d he said.
\nMr. Gatluak added that the second attack was also carried out by SSPDF against civilians from 7:30 to 8 pm.
\n\u201cA total number of 10 people comprised of 7 men, 2 women and 1 UNMISS staff-Rwandan by nationality sustained injuries and were hastily taken to the hospital for the treatment,\u201d he revealed.
\nNasir commissioner also claimed that at 10 pm, there was another destructive shelling by SSPDF targeting the location where civilians fled for their safety.
\n\u201c15\/2\/2025 at 6 am a belligerent shelling tossed toward the hospital where wounded casualties were taken for treatment,\u201d he continued.
\nHe called on the national government and peace monitors to intervene and stop this endless bloodshed.
\n\u201cDire multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance is needed to save lives of vulnerable and prevent the total collapse of livelihoods in the affected communities, particularly the displaced communities with populations in catastrophe,\u201d
\nIn a separate development, governor of Upper Nile State James Odhok received in his office a high-ranking military delegation of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF).
\n\u201cThe meeting between the governor and the delegation focused on addressing pressing security issues affecting the state,\u201d partly reads the statement.
\nThey are; Lt. Gen. James Koang Chuol, Assistant Chief of Staff for training and Lt. Gen. Johnson Olony, Assistant Chief of Staff for Demobilization and Disarmament.
\nThe Top security brass briefed the State boss of their visit to find coordinated solutions to overall security concerns in Upper Nile State is their core aim.
\nWhile the agreement expected completion of unification, little has been done while confrontations between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) and the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) continues.
\nTer Manyang, a civil society activist and executive director of the Center for Peace and Advocacy (CPA), called for restraint.
\n\u201cThese problems are recurring in Nasir due to a lack of political will to implement the security arrangements outlined in Chapter II of the R-ARCSS,\u201d he said. \u201cWe urge calm not only in Nasir but also in Western Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazal states. We call upon ceasefire monitors to investigate these incidents.\u201d
\nHe added that unification of forces would be a remedy for the violence in Nasir County in particular and other parts of South Sudan in general.
\nManyang called the parties to the peace agreement to collaborate and work as a team to end the persistent confrontations in the Nasir County of Upper Nile as well as South Sudan in general.
\n\u201cPersistent fighting in Upper Nile State, especially in Nasir County, is worrying indeed, and therefore, the parties to the R-ARCSS should collaborate with each other instead of making unnecessary competition,\u201d he said.
\nManyang called on peace monitors to investigate the fighting and held those behind it accountable.
\n\u201cCTSAMVM and RJEM should make serious investigations and hold those accountable for their actions,\u201d he said.
\nIn 2024, fighting erupted in Upper Nile State\u2019s Nasir County between civilians and the South Sudan People\u2019s Defense Forces (SSPDF), claiming some lives, injuring many, and displacing many people.
\nOther reports of fighting in Nasir County and other areas continue to be reported with no immediate solution.
\nLast year, the peace monitoring body (RJMEC) urged both national and state authorities to prioritize the unification and deployment of forces as stipulated in the 2018 peace agreement that ended the five-year civil war in South Sudan.
\nSpeaking at the 8th Governors\u2019 Forum, former RJMEC Interim Chairperson Gen. Charles Tai Gituai expressed concerns that the unification process had not progressed as expected.
\nHe said the unification of the forces is part of the implementation of the security arrangements.<\/p>\n