SSPDF Soldier Wounded in ‘Friendly Fire’ in Juba County on Land Grabbing

The South Sudan`s People Defense Forces (SSPDF) has said that a soldier from the Military Intelligence (MI) Operations Unit was shot and wounded following clashes between soldiers assigned different roles in Ladu Boma of Juba County’s Ladu Payam in Central Equatoria State early on Thursday morning.

Juba residents woke up in panic to the sound of gunfire in the early hours of Thursday morning from the north of the city. Ladu Payam has been riven by violent and deadly land-grabbing incidents for the last couple of years.

said the anti-land grabbing forces deployed in the area and other forces tasked to demolish structures erected on grabbed land clashed as a result of a lack of coordination.

“At dawn on Thursday, they (SSPDF soldiers) moved in with clear orders from the county commissioner to demolish the structures and it appears like the two forces did not get into proper coordination and as a result, the SSPDF forces from the MI Operations Unit and those from the Anti-land grabbing Unit fought among themselves,” he explained. “So, it was purely a clash between SSPDF forces given different roles, and one soldier from MI operations was shot and wounded in the leg and is currently being treated.”

Gen. Ruai added: “The commanding officers of both the units are currently in Bilpam Headquarters for further questioning on how they ended up like that.”

He said poor visibility at dawn might have also led to the friendly fire because the operation was to commence at 4 a.m. when it was still quite dark. The SSPDF mouthpiece however acknowledged that some of the soldiers were complicit in allocating themselves land in the area.

“So, those elements revolted and there is also a strong belief that within the forces that were deployed to prevent land grabbing, some elements colluded with the local population and started also allotting for themselves land so they were the ones that were responsible for opening fire on the forces that were coming to demolish illegal structures,” Gen. Ruai further elaborated. “The situation was brought under control because good enough it was between SSPDF units, so, a neutral force was sent in and they separated the forces that were fighting. The commanding officers of both units are now in Bilpam for further questioning on how they lost command and control.”

Reacting to the clashes, renowned civil society activist, Edmund Yakani, condemned land grabbing and urged the government to bring perpetrators to book.

“These issues of clashes over land grabbing are becoming serious in a manner that we already see unlawful acts coming up and we strongly condemn it as an organization,” he said. “I want to tell the government that there is no need to compromise with the unlawful behavior of land grabbers because some claim to be local chiefs, some claim to be survey officers and they respond to the government violently.”

Yakani added: “The government should deal with the land grabbers in a lawful by observing the due legal process.”