Tensions in Unity State after SSPDF deploys near SPLA-IO outpost

BENTIU – Tensions are high in South Sudan’s Unity State after the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) deployed troops near an outpost belonging to the main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), which is led by detained First Vice President Riek Machar.

SPLA-IO officers and local sources told Sudans Post on Wednesday night that the SSPDF’s 4^th Infantry Division had deployed forces to Pakur and arrested two SPLA-IO officers. The sources alleged that the division commander had also made threats to the SPLA-IO Sector Two commander, General George Gatthuoy Thak.

The confrontation reportedly stems from the withdrawal of the SPLA-IO’s component of the joint VIP protection forces from the disputed Abyei Administrative Area last month.

That SPLA-IO contingent had clashed with SSPDF colleagues in Abyei before arriving in Unity State’s Mayom County, where they also briefly clashed with forces in an area called Kaikang, along the northern Unity State’s border with Sudan’s West Kordofan State.

Major Kerbino Yai Pazale, SPLA-IO’s media official for sector two, told Sudans Post the disagreement was between SSPDF’s Division 4 commander, General Matthew Puljang, and General Gatthuoy.

Pazale alleged that General Puljang ordered the arrest of an SPLA-IO officer identified as 2nd Lt. Dactor Mayoung and a bodyguard of the Rubkona County Commissioner.

“He called in the morning, and he started making threats to the sector commander of the SPLA-IO,” Pazale said.

“After this call, he ordered the arrest of SPLA-IO officers and those they arrested are 2nd Lt. Dactor Mayoung and someone who is the bodyguard of the commissioner of Rubkona County and they are still in their custody,” he added.

According to Major Pazale, the SSPDF commander ordered the deployment of his forces later in the afternoon to Pakur, an area on the outskirts of Rubkona County located about 4 kilometers west of Rubkona.

Pazale said the escalation risked the relative peace the area has enjoyed since 2020.

“After the arrest of our officers, he (SSPDF division commander) ordered the deployment of their forces near our forces in Pakur and this is an alarming warning sign of what the intention of the SSPDF is in Unity State,” he said.

“So far, there is no clashes and up to now nothing has happened, but this is an alarming development,” he added.

Efforts to contact the SSPDF division commander in Rubkona were unsuccessful. However, multiple sources in Rubkona confirmed to Sudans Post that the SSPDF division command had deployed troops to the western outskirts of the town.