BREAKING | SPLA-IO overruns SSPDF garrison near Sudan border in Unity State

BENTIU – South Sudan’s main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) led by suspended First Vice President Riek Machar said on Saturday night its forces captured a strategic South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) garrison in northern Unity State near the Sudanese border.

Speaking to Sudans Post, SPLA-IO Sector Two spokesperson Major Kerbino Yai Pazale said government forces launched a coordinated attack on SPLA-IO positions at Nyuelnyuel, also known as Kubri Jamus, an area where both sides maintain nearby bases roughly three kilometers south of the Sudan border.

Pazale said SSPDF troops attacked from two directions but were repulsed after more than an hour of fighting, forcing government forces to retreat and abandon their position.

“Today, at around 8:30 p.m. local time, the SSPDF attacked our forces stationed in Nyuelnyuel from two directions,” Pazale said. “One force advanced from Kubri Jamus near the Ngol River, while the other came from the direction of Pan Akuach.”

“The fighting lasted for about one and a half hours,” he added.

Pazale said SPLA-IO fighters pushed back both attacking forces, forcing one unit to retreat eastward toward Pan Akuach and the Bentiu–Heglig highway, while the other withdrew west toward Kaikang in Mayom County.

“Our gallant forces fought back heroically and managed to scatter the two attacking forces in their respective directions,” he said. “The force advancing from the east was defeated toward Pan Akuach and the Bentiu–Heglig highway, while the force attacking from Kubri Jamus fled west toward Kaikang.”

The SSPDF did not respond to request for comments.

Residents in Kaikang and Rotriak Payam in Rubkona County told Sudans Post that several families linked to fighters arrived in the area following the clashes, confirming that fighting had occurred and lasted about an hour.

The SPLA-IO unit operating in the area is known as the “Mobile Force” and falls under the group’s Sector Two command, led by General Gatthuoy Thak. The force is commanded by Major General Moses Ruai Khor.

Part of the Mobile Force had previously been stationed at Garia, north of the Sudanese border, until it was forced out last month by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) following their capture of Heglig Oilfield, Pazale said.

Those forces later withdrew from Garia and regrouped with SPLA-IO units at Nyuelnyuel, located at coordinates 9°42’59.38″N 29°17’49.01″E. SSPDF troops, meanwhile, are positioned near Jamus Bridge (Kubri Jamus), which crosses the Ngol River at 9°41’2.20″N 29°18’8.56″E.

Nyuelnyuel has previously been the site of heavy fighting. In January 2024, clashes erupted there between SSPDF and SPLA-IO forces, with the government accusing the opposition of ambushing a convoy belonging to then Unity State governor Joseph Nguel Manytuil.

The Machar-led opposition rejected that account, saying the violence was triggered after SSPDF forces, allegedly led by then Koch County Commissioner Gordon Koang Biel and pro-government militia commander General Tito Biel Wiech of the Joknyang Declaration, instigated the confrontation.

Nyuelnyuel, also known as Barkuor, is located in Rubkona County and has served as an SPLA-IO base since the outbreak of South Sudan’s civil war in December 2013. Following the signing of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement, the area was turned into a joint base in 2021.

The two forces coexisted in the area until SPLA-IO commanders in Unity State rejected a government request for their troops to defect or integrate individually into the SSPDF, outside the command of SPLA-IO leader Riek Machar and in violation of the security arrangements stipulated in the revitalized peace agreement.

Prior to the January 2024 clashes, then SSPDF Division Four commander Manyang Mayak approached SPLA-IO’s Fourth (A) Infantry Division commander, General John Turuk Khor, requesting that SPLA-IO forces withdraw from the area, according to opposition sources.