December 23rd 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – The National Salvation Front (NAS) led by Gen. Thomas Cirilo said on Saturday in a statement that South Sudan government has resorted to the use of terror and intimidation to silent dissent in the country so as to remain in power.
The NAS statement came days after the South Sudan army urged the region and the international community to designate the rebel group and its leader, Thomas Cirilo, as a terrorist organization after accusing it of waging a “infrastructural” war against the people of South Sudan.
However, in a statement issued on Saturday by its official spokesman Suba Samuel Manasse, the rebel group denied the accusation instead accusing the South Sudan army which it referred to as Mathiang Anyoor of killings and kidnapping while employing terror to intimidate.
“NAS is aware that the regime in Juba has routinely resorted to intimidation, kidnapping, and killing to quite legitimate dissent,” Samuel said in the statement adding that “the use of these violent techniques by SSPDF (Mathiang Anyoor) sent over 2 million civilians across borders for refuge, looted and destroyed people’s property raped women and young girls and killed more than 20,000 innocent South Sudanese in Juba in 2013.”
The rebel group further accused the government of South Sudan of using terror to maintain itself in power.
“Contrary to the Spokesman’s claims, NAS would like to assert that terror in the context of South Sudan has been the monopoly of the SSPDF (Mathiang Anyoor)’s use to maintain its grip on power,” the statement added.
The statement further condemned the recent attack by South Sudan army near Juba against peace monitors saying “the incident was very atrocious and a total violation of Human rights. NAS condemns in strongest terms this barbaric attack on CTSAMM team in Luri and stand in solidarity with the victims of this attack.”
