Pagak, January 08, 2017 (GSN) - The intelligence unit of the Sudan’s People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO) says it has delivered a decisive blow to a rebel group linked to Dr. Lam Akol and South Sudanese government in Upper Nile State, the armed opposition has announced.
General Gabriel Gatwech Chan, who is also known as Tanginye, was killed in Amrah by the SPLA-IO under the overall command of Lt. Gen. Johnson Olony.
The SPLA-IO intelligence told the South Sudan News Agency that it has been tracking activities of Tanginye and his Generals linked to Akol’s Juba sponsored rebel faction.
The armed opposition says Tanginye soldiers first attacked one of its strategic locations in Upper Nile State in move seen as a plan to clear ways for Juba to bring in a combined force from South Sudan’s government, Sudanese JEM rebel group, and the SPLA-North.
South Sudanese rebel say they killed Gen. Tanginye early this week after he refused to accept “options’ given to him by the SPLA-IO.
The rebel military command also announced today that its troops killed Yuanis Okiech who they described as deputy to Tanginye, adding that Okiech was killed along with his bodyguards in mountainous location after his communications and movements were intercepted by the SPLA-IO intelligence division.
Warning to anyone who betrays the SPLM/A-IO
In a move seen as new, the rebels announced today in Pagak that anyone who is with the armed opposition and dares to commit or suspected of committing an act of betrayal against the SPLM/A-IO will be dealt with. The coordinated announcement was made at Pagak stadium and other rebel-held territories.
“Anyone is free to defect or claim defection, but when we identified you, you will be swiftly dealt with,” a senior rebel officer told the South Sudan News Agency on Saturday in the SPLM/A-IO stronghold Pagak.
Gatwech was the Chief of Staff of Akol’s Juba-linked rebel movement.
The new strategy, rebels claim, will allow the SPLA-IO and its intelligence branches to deal with any individual or group suspected of duplicity. (SSNA)
