Daily Times

JUBA: At least two new militia groups have been formed in South Sudan within two weeks, stoking fears their sudden rise would worsen the conflict in the country, analysts said Monday.

Augustino Ting Mayai, analyst with Juba-based think tank Sudd Institute, told Xinhua that the current proliferation of militia groups will exacerbate violence and humanitarian suffering as the country is faced with a man-made famine caused by fighting. “The fact is more rebel groups amount to more violence and suffering. There is no coordinated strategy to resolution of the conflict,” he said. This came after the February defections of top military officers like Lt. General Thomas Cirilo, the former deputy head of logistics in the South Sudanese army (SPLA) who formed the National Salvation Front (NSF) to overthrow President Salva Kiir’s regime.

And other peripheral rebel groups like the Cobra faction in the northeast Pibor area led by Khalid Boutros and South Sudan Democratic Forces rebels operating in Equatoria region have been co-opted into the NSF.
Mayai added that these defections have been driven by perception of ethnic domination by President Kiir’s Dinka tribe at the expense of Machar’s Nuer tribe and other 62 ethnic groups. In May 2014, the Cobra faction agreed a peace accord with the government and most of its fighters were integrated into the SPLA, but again rebelled last year citing failure to implement the peace accord.