Eyewitnesses say hundreds of army troops and armed youth heading to attack Pochalla

BOR, OCTOBER 1, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – Hundreds of SSPDF troops and armed youth from Pertet and Pibor counties are marching towards Pochalla County headquarters, reportedly with the aim of retaking an army base captured by local youth last week, residents of Pibor say.

The force of at least 800 men led by an unidentified captain were seen marching towards Pochalla on Sunday, according to the locals. They said that the armed men have been mobilizing in Pibor and Pertet counties for days to attack Pochalla.

The residents also allege that former Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) Chief Administrator Gen. Joshua Konyi and SSPDF commander in Pochalla who had fled to Pibor following last week’s fighting in Pochalla Col. Acuil Ayi were also seen mobilizing youth to help in the efforts to regain the army base.

Separately, a local government official in Pochalla said the youth were called in after South Sudan army troops in Pochalla were scattered by the local youth and their base capture. He said the youth have been promised to take whatever they find in Pochalla.

“All these days and the whole of last week, the commander of the SSPDF in Pochalla County who was displaced in his base by the youth there came to Pibor, the capital of Greater Pibor Administrative Area, and since his coming last week, he has been mobilizing youth and also he has been given hundreds of soldiers to go with him along the youth to return the base,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

“The youth are very wild, and they have been singing and they have already left, and we expect them to arrive maybe tomorrow morning because it usually take a day or a night in order to arrive in Pochalla from here. You remember the SSPDF base was captured last week, and this does not make the SSPDF happy,” the official added.

“A MASSACRE IN THE MAKING”

In a statement, Bol Deng Bol, the Chairperson of Jonglei Civil Society Network (JCSN) and Executive Director of INTREPID South Sudan, said he called for immediate intervention from the national government in Juba and described the news of SSPDF troops and local youth heading to Pochalla as an imminent massacre against the locals.

“This recent move towards Pochalla is most likely to fight the civilians again to probably reclaim their bases,” he told Sudans Post in an email. “This is a massacre in the making.”

“I am appealing to the President of the Republic of South Sudan to intervene and order SSPDF to STOP this operation. “A nation’s army should never stop that LOW to accept to battle with civilians; armed or not. There has to be other ways to negotiate through this Conflict. A National army is expected to protect not brutalize own Civilians,” he added.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang was not available for comment at the time of this writing.