By Nicole Awan Yel
The South Sudan Peoples Defense Forces (SSPDF) has denied the presence of a new rebel group in Nimule, which was last week reported to have threatened to attack the border town.
On Sunday last week, a group calling itself Joint Command Council (JCC) issued a press release claiming that Nimule town was under siege.
“This is an alert to the civilians in Nimule that the forces of the Joint Command Council (JCC) under the command of Cde John Aborcup Akuer have attacked the military base inside Nimule town. On 11 October, JCC forces attacked a military base in Nimule airstrip to alert civilians to evacuate, but the attack was largely ignored. Civilians near Nimule town and surroundings are asked to evacuate immediately. Evacuate Nimule now,”
However, SSPDF Spokesman Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang told Juba Echo on Tuesday that there is no rebel group in Nimule, describing the statement as a cyber-crime that will be dealt with according to South Sudan law.
“This person who made the press statement is just a student in East Africa countries and there is no student who can create any rebellion here. Our forces are there and on standby in different places. We have troops from here to Nimule; to Torit, we have forces all over greater Equatoria.”
He added that “this is just a propaganda on social media. He is just a 29-year-old man and was a soldier at SPLA-IO but later returned to school in East Africa between Nairobi and Kampala. I don’t know, but he is a student, not even in the country,” he added.
The army spokesperson reassured the general public that their security was being taken care of and that the army would deal with anyone trying to destabilize the country.
