Government Massacres Own Unarmed Ex-officers, NCOs and Trainees

April 26, 2014(Nyamilepedia) — Some media outlets have reported a heavy fighting broke out at the training center in Mapel, Western Bahr el Ghazal state. However, the latest reports confirm that the incident was not a mutiny, as alleged, but an onslaught of disarmed, former SPLA soldiers.

Mapel training facility was established in 2012 by the UNMISS and the government’s disarmament commission to train the SPLA ex-soldiers, in order, to boost their skills and confident to return to civilians life.

The facility was built on a 1.2-kilometre-square piece of land, donated by the state government to Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) in appreciation to former liberators, the SPLA ex-combatants.

The facility, which started with 500 ex-combatants in April 2012, was expected to boost socioeconomic status of the local populations and the vulnerable ex-soldiers who were to be trained with various skills and offered psychosocial counseling at the center.

The center, built by the UNMISS Chinese Engineering Company, was not intended to rearm but to disarm the former soldiers. Thus, it would be unfortunate that the unarmed ex-combatants could stage a mutiny as reported by some media outlets.

Report from the SPLA/M [in opposition] spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang, confirms that about 220 trainees have been killed by the loyal forces at the orders of Sector One Commander, Lt. Gen. Jok Riak, who was promoted and deployed to the area in 2013.

Lt. Gen. Jok Riak was allegedly rescued by the SSLA commander, Gen. Mathew Puljang, a nuer by ethnicity, in the recent recapture of Bentiu town by the SPLA in opposition. Jok was expected to relaunch an attack on Bentiu to reclaim the oil hub state.

The SPLA headquarters in Wau and Juba, are yet to release their full report on this attack.

The following report, from the opposition, fears that the number of casualties could possibly rise.

Begin the report ….

Press Release N0.54

SPLA Forces acting on orders of Sector One Commander, Lt. Gen. Jok Riak executed 220 unarmed Nuer Officers, NCOs and Trainees at Mapel Military Training Centre in Western Bahr El Ghazal State. This number is expected to shoot up significantly since some of the survivors who fled to the bushes are still being hunted down.

These unarmed Nuer servicemen/women who were massacred while still loyal to Kiir were taken to Mapel some years back to be trained as part of SPLA’s Mechanized Division. It’s not true that they had staged unsuccessful mutiny as reported in various media outlets but the truth is that they were killed in cold blood because the hometown ( Duk County in Jonglei State) of their direct Commander, Maj. Gen. Malual Majok was liberated by our forces this week.

The SPLA/SPLM calls on the International Community and relatives of victims to personally hold responsible Lt. Gen. Jok Riak, Sector One Commander, Maj. Gen. Malual Majok, Commander of Mechanized Division and Maj. Gen. Manyok Barach, Commander of 5th Division. These are well known personalities from Greater Bor of Jonglei State with ill intentions and are bound to cause more problems and fun flames of tribal hatred if not sacked and tried.

Brig. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang,
Military Spokesperson for SPLA/SPLM in Opposition

Related stories:

UNMISS: DDR training facility launched in Mapel

The Upper Nile Time: Unarmed Nuer SPLA trainees butchered in Mapel, Western Bhar El Ghazal

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Deng Elijah contributed to this article, he can be reached through Nyamilepedia.