SSPDF blames NAS over Juba – Nimule Road ambushes

JUBA – South Sudan People’s Defense Force (SSPDF) has blamed the National Salvation Front (NAS) led by Gen. Thomas Cirilo Swaka for the continuous attack on passengers along Juba – Nimule.

This comes after two nuns and three other passengers were killed in a road ambush between Aru and Kubi village when they were returning to Juba from Loa Parish.

Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang, the SSPDF spokesperson, told City Review in a telephone interview yesterday that there are several factors that should be put together in order to solve the issues of Nimule – Juba road attacks.

“The international community has a role to play to advise or to warn the National Salvation Front leadership that it is totally wrong for innocent civilians to be targeted along the road,” he said.

“The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) should take the lead in warning NAS that it is a human crime for an armed organization with a political objective to target innocent civilians using the road,” the spokesperson said.

Ruai said if NAS were backing up the political objective with military means, then they should face the government instead of innocent civilians.

“They should be targeting military barracks if they are fighting for the changed regime and not the innocent civilians,” he said.

According to him, the other solution to prevent the ambushes along the Juba Nimule highway was to reactivate the patrol.

“If worse comes to worst we provide escorts to the users of the public means of transport to avoid innocent people from being killed,” Maj Gen. Lul said.

However, he admitted that the problem along Nimule road was that they are dealing with an armed group that did not differentiate between civilians and military targets.

“They attack every person that uses the Juba – Nimule Road, you know it is a crime by itself,” he said.

On Monday, two nuns were killed in an ambush attack along Nimule-Juba when armed men fired guns at passengers who were returning from Loa after attending the Centenary Celebration of the Catholic Mission in the area.

According to a statement seen by City Review from the Eastern Equatoria Gubernatorial Press Unit, the incident happened a few kilometers away from Kubi village.

The Catholic Nuns from the Congregation of the Sacred Heart, 2 men and 1 Boda Boda rider who was knocked down by a speeding truck when he tried to was run away from the scene.

The state Governor of Eastern Equatoria State Louis Lobong Lojore visited the place where the incident happened.

Tiger forces, the National Security Servicemen, Military Intelligence and the Police Force for quickly arriving at the scene and mounted a search to clear the area of the criminals,” the statement read.

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