“On fresh murder of civilians in Mugwo. On 31st July 2018, the SPLA-IO has recovered six bodies of civilians who were captured, killed and dumped into the bushes by the government soldiers at Mugwo in Yei River County over the last weekend,” the statement said.
The statement said the victims were carrying goods on their motor bicycles and while they were going back to their residential areas in Mugwo and Otogo Payam saying the incident followed government decision to install a commissioner in a rebel-held territory.
“The victims were businessmen who went to buy their goods from Uganda and were cycling on their bicycles back to Mugwo and Otogo Payam. This incident happened a few days after the regime’s government of Yei River State installed its commissioner of the unilaterally created county of Mugwo into the area that was under our control at the very time of the installation,” said the statement.
The statement further said the actions by the government troops violates the permanent ceasefire agreement signed by President Kiir and opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
“The continuous killing of civilians and deployment of commissioners and forces by Juba into our areas are coward actions which violate the permanent ceasefire declared by President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Dr. Riek Machar Teny in a move to allow safe movements for civilian population and humanitarian access,” the statement further said.
“In this regard, we appeal to our counterparts in Yei town in the person of the regime’s Governor Emmanuel Adil Anthony to enforce discipline into their forces and to restraint from provocative deployment of his officials as well as soldiers to areas that are under our control,” it said.
We therefore, call upon the CTSAMM, UNMISS and the rights bodies to investigate, verify and sanction government elements who are working contrary to the efforts going on in a bid to broker peace”
