JUBA – A senior commander of South Sudan’s foremost armed opposition, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), was arrested in Ethiopia’s Gambella area on Saturday, opposition sources advised Sudans Post on Sunday.
Lieutenant General Thok Chuol Luak, who instructions the SPLA-IO’s Sector Three, was detained by Ethiopian authorities on the request of South Sudan’s army attaché in Gambella, based on two SPLA-IO sources.
The request was linked to alleged involvement in current clashes in Nasir, Upper Nile State, between the army and a neighborhood armed youth group, the sources advised Sudans Post.
“General Thok Chuol was arrested yesterday. He was detained along with some individuals, but they have since been released. As of now, he remains in custody,” one SPLA-IO supply stated.
“The person responsible for his detention is the South Sudanese military attaché in Gambella,” the supply added.
The arrest comes amid rising tensions between the SPLA-IO and the federal government, with a number of opposition officers detained in current weeks.
In Juba, safety forces arrested a number of high-ranking SPLA-IO officers, together with appearing SPLA-IO chief of workers and deputy chief of protection forces of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces’ (SSPDF) General Gabriel Duop Lam.
General Duop was arrested final week at Bilpam, the SSPDF’s army headquarters, over alleged connections to lethal combating between the White Army – an armed Nuer youth group – and the SSPDF in Nasir.
The clashes resulted within the killing of the SSPDF brigade commander within the space, escalating tensions between the SSPDF and the SPLA-IO.
The detentions of SPLA-IO officers in Juba have fueled fears of a widening crackdown on opposition figures throughout the safety sector.
SPLA-IO officers have reported elevated surveillance and harassment by safety forces, together with their peace companion, the SSPDF, and the National Security Service (NSS).
It stays unclear whether or not Ethiopian authorities plan to switch General Thok Chuol to South Sudanese custody or if negotiations are underway for his launch to the SPLA-IO.
The SPLM-IO management has but to touch upon the arrest, however the detentions are probably so as to add additional pressure to the delicate peace settlement between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar.