The leader of the rebel outfit, South Sudan People’s Movement (SSPM), Gen. Stephen Buay Rolnyang, has said President Salva Kiir’s reappointment of Joseph Nguen Monytuil as governor of Unity State on Monday night is misguided.
“If President Kiir appointed Joseph Nguen Manytuil, former Governor of Western Upper Nile (Unity State), to address the ongoing instability along the common border between Bhar El Ghazal and Western Upper Nile, then such an appointment is misguided,” a press statement extended to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday morning by the Office of the Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of the SSPM said.
“For over thirteen years, Joseph Nguen Manytuil’s administration has failed to uphold peace and security along the borders between Western Upper Nile and the Bahr el Ghazal region, as well as within Western Upper Nile communities,” Gen. Buay charged. “The persistent cattle raiding and intercommunal violence across these borders stem from the absence of competent governors and commissioners capable of maintaining law and order.”
Relatedly, the rebel leader said the appointment of Hussein Abdelbagi as Vice President further signals that the NCP, under Tut Gatluak, presidential security advisor, may exploit the killings in Abiemnom to reassert influence in Western Upper Nile.
“By this appointment, President Kiir has effectively endangered the communities of Western Upper Nile and the Dinka communities along the Bahr el Ghazal border with Western Upper Nile, exposing them to continued cycles of violence. This decision does not constitute a solution to the crisis, as President Kir keeps saying he is seeking a solution,” Gen. Buay wrote. “It is like President Kiir has issued a Black Death Warrant to the people of Western Upper Nile and the Dinka communities living along the common borders. They will kill themselves like fish.”
Monytuil served as Unity State governor from 2020 until his dismissal in May 2024. The Upper House of the National Legislature passed a vote of no confidence against Monytuil in August 2022, citing insecurity and alleged human rights violations, but President Kiir did not act on the motion.
In December 2023, the U.S. Department of the Treasury placed Monytuil on its sanctions list under Executive Order 13664, targeting individuals “responsible for or complicit in actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, or stability of South Sudan.”
U.S. authorities alleged that forces aligned with Monytuil carried out systematic rape and other human rights violations against women and girls in Leer County in 2022.
A United Nations-backed Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan identified Monytuil among senior officials whose actions or omissions “warrant criminal investigation and prosecution” for gross human rights violations, including state-sanctioned extrajudicial killings in Mayom County in August 2022 and widespread attacks on civilians.