March 31, 2016(Nyamilepedia) —— A group of fighters in Equatoria region, who are currently allied to the main armed opposition SPLM/SPLA (IO) under the banner of South Sudan Patriotic Front(SSPF) have distanced themselves from their provisional leader, Charles Kisinga, the former Minister of Information of Western Equatoria state.
The group, which is famously known as arrow boys, clarifies their position and denounces Charles’ recent statement.
According to Maj. Gen. Alfred Futiyo, who commands the forces, South Sudan Patriotic Front(SSPF) pledges its allegiance to November 2015 Declaration and should not be known as “arrow boys” any longer.
“I Gen. Alfred Futiyo SPLM-IO in WES would like to clarify to the general public that, the claim made by the former WES Minister of Information Cde Charles Kisanga leader of SSPF/ Arrow boys in WES is untrue.” said the general.
“We have been cooperating with SPLM-IO since April 2014 before we made our declaration in November 2015 and after our declaration, we no longer Arrow boys.” Gen. Futiyo continued.
According to Samson Masiya, the SSPF spokesman, their forces are fighting in condemnation of massacres of the Nuer tribe in Juba, arguing that other minority groups will also be massacred like the Nuer civilians if they fail to fight collectively.
“Our attention for joining the movement was the killing of Nuer tribe in Juba in 2013 but not for positions. We are not naive to think what tribal regime did to our brother Nuer, ours or any tribes will be different.” Said Masiya.
Responding to Charles, who has accused members of Equatorian’s community in SPLM/SPLA-IO for seeking positions, Masiya explains that the “arrow boys” was formed to defend the people of Equatoria from LRA when Salva Kiir government failed and said they never seek any promotions or positions.
“We formed Arrow boys way back to defend our community from LRA unconditional, when the same government failed to defend our community. It’s unrealistic to say  our attention is/was positions when our past history can justified who we are. If our attention was positions, why we did not asked for positions when we were fighting LRA?” Masiya said.
Despite disappointment, Masiya believes that Kisanga has a right to speak his mind but warns the public that the former minister has no fighters any more.
“Lastly, Kisanga is free to speak his mind with due to respect to freedom of expression but he has no Arrow boys here in WES.” He said.
“I request members who are close to former Minister Kisanga to advise him to seek help for the condition is going through.” Masiya suggests.
In response, the former Minister went viral saying that Masiya was not part of the arrow boys he formed and denounced him for his statement.
“Mr Samson Masaya, since I formed SSPPF/Arrow Boys was never part of it and he tried to bury the Equatoria movement from day pen but failed. He is no spokesperson for nobody.
Samson Masiya was only interested in seeking position under Riek IO.” Charles said.
The former Minister believes that Masiya was paid 10, 000 USD by the SPLM/SPLA-IO to lure the arrow boys to join rebellion before Masiya himself fled to Australia.
“Samson Masiya called $10,000= from Dr. Riek in order to go and buy the Arrow boys with it. But when he reached Uganda he changed his mind because they will kill him if he went there. So instead you sent $5,000= to one commander telling him to convert the boys to Dr. Riek IO and he can have use of the money. Then Samson pocketed the $5,000 balance and went back with it to Australia to enjoy with your family.” Said charles on his social media profile.
Other Equatorians intellectuals in Diaspora and senior members of SPLM/SPLA-IO have called on Charles to revoke his statement.
While some accuse the former minister, now a Lt. General, of using the arrow boys for his own interests, others believe Charles is having secret talks with members of Salva Kiir government.
2 comments
Dear Charles and Samson
You guys made a good decision bolstered our Nuer tribe who were singled out and butchered by the regime of Kiir. My advised to you better sit down on table and resolving this issue peacefully without exposing each other’s secrets. South Sudan had been in chaos don’t blame one another, let’s forget the past and move forward.
Bol Gatjang , you Nuer are good at lying. You spread lies about so call Nuer massacre in Juba without any evidences to show that it really happened. I know some civilians were killed by cross fire. So stop this bulshit that Nuer civilians were targeted . I’m not buying that.
Chol Agut-Nuer