S. Sudanese army dismisses tribalism allegations by renegade top officers

The South Sudanese army (SPLA) on Monday dismissed allegations of tribalism leveled against it by former top officials who resigned last week.

SPLA spokesman Brigadier Lul Ruai Koang told journalists in Juba that the army courts were not applying double standards in prosecuting those believed to have committed rapes, killings and looting of property during especially the renewed July clash, last year.

"There are no sacred cows in SPLA when it comes to application of punitive measures and in fact, before and July 2016, 72 out of 82 SPLA officers, noncommissioned officers and men punished for war crimes were from Dinka ethnic group," he revealed.

This came after two high ranking military officers overseeing the army's military courts quit and authored a critical dossier exposing the ethnic favouritism afforded to President Salva Kiir and Army chief Paul Malong's Dinka tribe officers where the former allegedly exempted them from prosecution.

Brigadier General Henry Oyai Ngago, former Director for military justice and Colonel Khalid Ono Loki, the former head of military courts, became the latest officers to quit after the elite Lt. General Thomas Cirilo Swaka, the former Deputy Head of logistics resigned from the SPLA over similar allegations of tribalism and abating of crimes committed against non-Dinka tribes.

"SPLA is not a tribal army. In fact, those officers who had defected are going to be part and parcel of purely tribal outfits that is Agullek, SPLA-IO. To the contrary SPLA has more national composition and outlook," Koang added in a statement.

The renegade officers also accused the army of deliberating fanning ethnic killings in mostly Equatoria and Upper Nile regions where fighting is still ongoing between SPLA-in opposition (SPLA-IO) and SPLA forces.

They added that the SPLA was illegally arresting civilians and subjecting them to torture in detention cells, hence reinforcing various human rights reports by the UN documenting heinous atrocities committed in Yei South West of the capital and in northern towns of Malakal and Bentiu.

"On arrest of civilians, let them provide us with lists of civilians currently in military detention facilities and the leadership will not hesitate to look into circumstances under which they were arrested," Koang said.

Koang also denied allegations of deliberate recruitment of child soldiers in the rank and file of the SPLA.

"We challenge concerned bodies/institutions to go on fact finding mission to SPLA divisions in order to confirm for themselves that we have no child soldiers in our rank and files," he added.

South Sudan has been shattered by civil war that broke out in December 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup. Machar denied the accusation but then mobilized a rebel force.

A peace deal signed in August 2015 led to the formation of a transitional unity government in April, but was again devastated by fresh violence in July 2016.

Tens of thousands of South Sudanese have been killed, with over 2 million displaced and another 4.6 million left severely food insecure, since December 2013. Endit