JUBA VIOLENCE AFTERMATH: RUMORS OF SAF PRISONER

C O N F I D E N T I A L KHARTOUM 002667 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/SPG E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/14/2016 TAGS: PREL PHUM SOCI PGOV UN SU SUBJECT: JUBA VIOLENCE AFTERMATH: RUMORS OF SAF PRISONER DEATH REF: KHARTOUM 02572 Classified By: P/E Chief E. Whitaker, Reason: Section 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Attacks attributed to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) around Juba have slowed within the last week, but still continue. The LRA has denied responsibility for these incidents of violence, and Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) officials still maintain that the Sudanese Armed forces (SAF) are behind at least some of the raids. There are also credible but unconfirmed rumors that one of the SAF soldiers arrested for previous raids (reftel) has died in Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) custody. -------------- More Attacks, Rumors of SAF Death -------------- ¶2. (C) A UN security official told CG Juba officials that there was an attack by unknown gunmen November 10 on the road between Juba and Bor. Two SPLA soldiers were said to have been injured in the incident. One of the two reportedly stated that the attackers were "LRA." Another incident was reported November 9 on the road between Juba and Torit, resulting in one death. The same UN official reported that a 15-year old attacker in one recent incident east of Juba was injured in the attack, and subsequently hospitalized and questioned. The youth allegedly confirmed that he was part of an LRA group. He died the following day. ¶3. (SBU) SPLA leadership and UN security officials have pointed to several potential culprits in the 13-14 attacks east and south of Juba over the last three weeks, which have caused over 70 deaths. Both military and political leaders in southern Sudan have accused the Sudan Armed Forces -- particularly its military intelligence apparatus -- of fomenting the violence. Even SPLA leaders making the accusations, however, admit that they have little concrete proof of SAF complicity. ¶4. (C) GoSS officials have not charged the 15 SAF personnel arrested on or about October 19 in the village of Gumbo, just across the Nile from Juba (reftel); furthermore, the GoSS has failed to deliver on early statements that the evidence against the detainees would be made public. The senior SPLA officer in the Joint Integrated Units, Maj. Gen. Thomas Cirillo, told ConGen Staff that "the order had been given" for the JIUs to conduct a joint investigation, which he expected to commence as early as October 14. Both Cirillo and SPLA Maj. Gen. Bior Deng Ajak confirmed that another SAF suspect was also in custody. Bior said the individual was a "commander" of recent attacks on the road between Juba and Bor. ¶5. (C) Subsequent to these statements, two other sources -- a UN security official and an experienced NGO worker with access to the SPLA -- said they were following up on reports that a SAF soldier died on November 10 in SPLA custody. The individual, said to be named "Abbas Siliman," reportedly was arrested by the SPLA on November 4. The rumored cause of death was a broken neck. It is not clear whether the detainee was accused of complicity in any of the recent attacks, and all details of this incident should be treated as unconfirmed. Both the UN source and the NGO worker said relations between the SPLA and SAF had grown tenser in the aftermath of the reported death. HUME