‘No community can defeat the state’: Jonglei lawmaker to Lou Nuer youth

BOR – A member of the Jonglei State Legislative Assembly has dismissed claims that armed youth from the Lou Nuer community can overthrow South Sudan’s government, describing the ongoing fighting in parts of Jonglei as reckless, misguided, and dangerously unplanned.

Wany Bum Makhor, the lawmaker representing Uror County, said efforts by supporters of opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny to challenge the government through armed confrontation were unrealistic and risk plunging Jonglei deeper into instability.

In an exclusive interview with Sudans Post on Thursday, the lawmaker argued that no single community has the capacity to defeat the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF), which he said draws its ranks from across all 64 tribes of the country.

“It is unwise for supporters of Dr. Riek Machar to believe that a section of the Nuer community can defeat the SSPDF,” Makhor said, warning that such thinking only fuels unnecessary bloodshed and suffering among civilians.

He contrasted the situation in Lou Nuer areas with that of the Dok Nuer community—Dr. Machar’s home area—saying residents there continue to live peacefully alongside government forces. According to Makhor, the calm coexistence in Adok Port demonstrates that armed rebellion is neither inevitable nor beneficial.

“The Dok Nuer, Dr. Riek Machar’s own community, are peacefully going about their daily business and freely mingling with SSPDF forces in Adok Port,” he noted.

Makhor said the mobilisation of the Lou Nuer White Army lacks a clear strategy and poses a serious risk to Jonglei’s fragile security environment. He called on armed youth to withdraw from contested areas and return to their villages, cattle camps, and fishing grounds to allow stability to return.

He also urged the White Army to vacate military positions reportedly seized from the SPLA-IO, saying this would allow government forces to reassert control and prevent further escalation.

On foreign military cooperation, Makhor defended the government’s engagement with international partners, stating that such decisions fall within the sovereign authority of the state under President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s leadership.

“No community, including the Lou Nuer, has a monopoly of power to defeat the government,” he said.

Addressing the continued detention of Dr. Machar, Makhor warned that renewed violence would only worsen the opposition leader’s legal and political situation. He called on SPLM-IO interim leader Gen. Oyet Nathaniel Pierino and senior commanders to pursue constitutional and legal channels rather than armed confrontation.

“If they truly want Dr. Riek Machar released, violence against the government will only further implicate him,” Makhor said.

He concluded with an appeal for calm, urging armed youth in Jonglei to abandon hostilities and allow political and legal processes to take their course. His remarks come amid a renewed military build-up between government and opposition forces in the northern part of the state.