3 rebel commanders allied to Gen. Buay detained in Sudan, to be handed over to Juba

JUBA – At least three senior rebel officers of the South Sudan People’s Movement/Army (SSPM/A) led by General Stephen Buay Rolnyang have been arrested by the Sudanese government and are due to be handed over to the government of South Sudan.

The three officers are Maj-Gen. Nyuon Garang Kuol, Maj-Gen. Pur Ruop Kuol, and Brig-Gen. Gatluak Majiok Liey, the leading rebel officer blamed for the 22 July attack on Mayom County headquarters in which the county commissioner was killed along with 12 service members of SSPDF.

In a statement, the SSPM/A said their senior officers were on a visit to Fula locality of Western Kordofan state when they were set up for arrest by members of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Daglo in coordination with South Sudan’s presidential security advisor, the younger brother of the slain Mayom commissioner.

“The SSPM/A condemns the arrest of its three SSPM/A senior officers who were arrested this morning on 6/7/2022, in Fula, Sudan by Sudan Support Rapid Forces (SRF) in coordination with South Sudan National Security Advisor Tutkew Gatluak who has bribed Colonel Taj Yusif of (SRF) to kidnap our officers who went to visit their families in Fula and to hand them over to Juba National Security Advisor Tut Gatluak in a possible revenge for the death of his brother, the commissioner of Mayom who was killed in the counter- attack on Mayom on 21/7/2022,” the statement signed by Gen. Buay’s spokesman Luke Gattiek reads in part.

“This is against the international and humanitarian laws. If our officers have committed any crime in the Sudan, they should be arrested and detained in the Sudan not to be handed over to their opponent.

“The SSPM/A condemns in the strongest possible terms the handing over of the SSPM/A officers to the regime which is the political and armed opponent of the SSPM/A, and a country like Sudan is not supposed to do such an inhumane act while Juba is hosting and harboring Sudan opposition groups and nobody was handed over to Sudan,” the statement added.

It further called on the “the international human right bodies to investigate and ensure the safety of our officers in the hand of the regime.

“The regime has repeated what it did in Nairobi in 2019, when they kidnapped Dong Samuel and Aggrey and killed them in Juba. The regime is now very desperate and has sent its secret agents to hunt down the SSPM/A members in the region.”