In short
According to Lt. Gen. Swaka, the National Salvation Front will fight the current Juba government and depose it. In a communication issued on Monday, Gen. Swaka said they are left with no choice other than to fight the malady that has badly tarnished the image of South Sudan.
Lt. Gen. Thomas Cirillo Swaka, the former South Sudan Deputy Chief of General Staff for logistics has formed a new rebel group, the National Salvation Front. Lt. Gen. Swaka resigned from the South Sudan army last month accusing President, Salva Kiir of turning the national army into a tribal militia to entrench himself in power.
According to Lt. Gen. Swaka, the National Salvation Front will fight the current Juba government and depose it. In a communication issued on Monday, Gen. Swaka said they are left with no choice other than to fight the malady that has badly tarnished the image of South Sudan.
"The National Salvation Front (NAS) is convinced that to restore sanity and normalcy in our country, Kiir must go, he must vacate the office without further bloodshed," the letter states. According to General Swaka, the rebel group will use all available means to restore law and order and the respect for human rights in the country.
The new group claimed that it believes in the rightful path of national co-existence, ideals of free, sovereign and democratically governed nations. "Thus, with a clear conscience and with determination, we declare the birth of a citizen-imposed change," part of the letter reads. Swaka says the new movement will respond to the call for unified resistance against Kiir's government, using all the means available and feasible.
"It is in this spirit of dedication to the cause of our people that I, General Thomas Cirillo Swaka, on behalf of the National Salvation Front, solemnly declare the launching of the National Salvation Front (NAS) on this 6th Day of March, 2017," adds the letter.
Until his resignation last month, Gen. Swaka was the SPLA Deputy Chief of General Staff for Logistics. In his resignation letter, Swaka blasted President Kiir, the Jieng Council of Elders (JCE), and SPLA Chief of General Staff, saying the JCE is the real Cabinet of South Sudanese Government.
General Swaka also accused the trio of pursuing an agenda of ethnic domination, adding that the ongoing armed conflict was ethnically engineered. The south Sudan government is yet to react to the development.
According to Lt. Gen. Swaka, the National Salvation Front will fight the current Juba government and depose it. In a communication issued on Monday, Gen. Swaka said they are left with no choice other than to fight the malady that has badly tarnished the image of South Sudan.
"The National Salvation Front (NAS) is convinced that to restore sanity and normalcy in our country, Kiir must go, he must vacate the office without further bloodshed," the letter states. According to General Swaka, the rebel group will use all available means to restore law and order and the respect for human rights in the country.
The new group claimed that it believes in the rightful path of national co-existence, ideals of free, sovereign and democratically governed nations. "Thus, with a clear conscience and with determination, we declare the birth of a citizen-imposed change," part of the letter reads. Swaka says the new movement will respond to the call for unified resistance against Kiir's government, using all the means available and feasible.
"It is in this spirit of dedication to the cause of our people that I, General Thomas Cirillo Swaka, on behalf of the National Salvation Front, solemnly declare the launching of the National Salvation Front (NAS) on this 6th Day of March, 2017," adds the letter.
Until his resignation last month, Gen. Swaka was the SPLA Deputy Chief of General Staff for Logistics. In his resignation letter, Swaka blasted President Kiir, the Jieng Council of Elders (JCE), and SPLA Chief of General Staff, saying the JCE is the real Cabinet of South Sudanese Government.
General Swaka also accused the trio of pursuing an agenda of ethnic domination, adding that the ongoing armed conflict was ethnically engineered. The south Sudan government is yet to react to the development.
