Officials in South Sudan’s Ministry of Defense and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) have denied responsibility for the formation of a militia that they have accused of carrying out mass killings in Juba in December 2013, which marked the start of the current civil war. The militia was tied to top politicians.
Neither the defense ministry under Kuol Manyang nor the SPLA general staff under General James Hoth Mai had any formal command authority over the group at the start of the crisis. Instead, the militia was organized entirely outside of army command structures, sources said.
Ex-combatants of the militia known as 'Mathiang Anyoor' told Radio Tamazuj they were organized in 2012 and 2013, before being dispersed or absorbed into formal service branches last year.
Manut*, a former Mathiang Anyoor soldier, said the group had its origins in a desire to protect and expand South Sudan's territory along its northern border with Sudan during a tense period in North-South relations in early 2012. He said they even aspired to march north to "annex Kosti", a Sudanese city south of Khartoum.
The militia was recruited in two batches, the first in 2012 and another in 2013. The fighters included adults and youths as well as children, though the latter were later dismissed because they tended to run away, Manut said. He and other sources said they were trained in Pantit Military Training Center in Aweil West County of Northern Bahr al Ghazal State.
Another military source in the Northern Bahr al Ghazal area said the size of the Mathiang Anyoor force was equivalent to about an army division, comprising more than four brigades. Estimates of the number of soldiers range from 3,000 to 15,000.
Former Deputy Defense Minister Majak D'Agoot last year told African Union investigators that the force was 15,000 strong. Presidential guard commander Maj-Gen. Marial Chanuong told the AU team, "They were trained in Pantiit in Northern Bahr al Ghazal. They were 12,000."
'It killed most people here'
Military and security sources quoted in a 60-page African Union document obtained by Radio Tamazuj accused the group of perpetrating many of the killings in Juba in mid-December 2013. They said that elements of the militia arrived in Juba shortly before the massacres.
Defense Minister Manyang told the AU Commission of Inquiry that the group "killed most people here" during the mid-December events in Juba and that the "group [had] organized itself as 'Rescue the President'... It was even more powerful than organized forces."
Likewise, Maj-Gen. Mac Paul, who was chief of military intelligence at the time, said the killers of 16-18 December were "mainly" from that group. A third commander, the head of the police service Maj-Gen. Pieng Deng, also linked the group to the killings.
Two of these sources referred to the group by the name 'Dut ku Beny', a Dinka phrase meaning literally 'Keep the President,' or figuratively, 'Rescue the President'. This term has been used both as a nickname for the Mathiang Anyoor and to describe their purpose.
Civilian leadership
There is little evidence to indicate the regular army command had any involvement in coordinating mass killings of civilians in Juba, though individual members may have taken part. At the time, the army was led by a Nuer, General Hoth Mai.
General Pieng Deng, the head of the national police service, pointed the finger instead at militia led by "a certain civilian" whom he identified as Bol Akot, a retired officer hailing from Warrap.
He said that he was with army leaders on 16 December, the first full day of the crisis. He described an army command that was disorganized and lacking orders -- indicating that they were not involved in organizing massacres.
"[On the] night of the 15th I came to my office when I heard of the shooting. We heard of the killing in the morning. We sent police. They were overwhelmed by military or anyone claiming to be military. I was with Chief of Staff. There was no order from Chief of Staff or Commander of Operations, James Ojong, nor from Chief of Intelligence of Army. There was no centralized command," he said in the document leaked from the AU panel.
Gen. Pieng went on to accuse other "elements" of taking the initiative at the outset of the crisis.
"There could be elements who could have organized in a certain way – a certain civilian calling himself a Major-General [i.e. Bol Akot] and a group calling itself 'Rescue the President.' That Major-General was arrested by the army but escaped as part of the breakout on March 5.”
However, another source told Radio Tamazuj that the present whereabouts of the retired officer Bol are in fact known. He is allegedly based in the Luri area of Central Equatoria and reportedly has returned to active duty SPLA as a leader of commando forces.
Bol Akot is mentioned in the account of another top SPLA general, Maj-Gen. Mac Paul, who was the head of military intelligence. He stressed that Bol’s forces at that time of the December crisis "had no other command" -- meaning they were not under the SPLA headquarters.
In an interview recorded by the AU Commission of Inquiry, the major-general confirmed that "organized killings of civilians" began on 16 December in the neighborhood called Miya Saba. Possibly because of Bol’s later alleged association with the commandos and because many Mathiang Anyoor were later absorbed as 'commandos', he refers to the troops Bol reportedly led as 'commandos' rather than 'Dut ku Beny', the term used by the police general.
"It began in a place called 107 [Miya Saba].... Those who killed from 16th evening to the 18th came mainly from Bahr al Ghazal. Maj Gen Bol Akot led the commandos, who had no other command,” the major-general explained.
However, it is not clear at what point Bol allegedly took command of Mathiang Anyoor troops nor how many he actually led. Radio Tamazuj has been able to identify few other officers of the Mathiang Anyoor. One observer said that the group actually had no officers, as it consisted primarily of raw recruits.
Tribal elders and other civilian leaders
Evidence indicates that other civilians involved in organizing the Mathiang Anyoor included Paul Malong Awan, who was then the civilian governor of Northern Bahr al Ghazal. He effectively served as the lead coordinator of the project. He later helped lead Mathiang Anyoor forces in the field on the Bor front, according to his own public statements
Other civilian mobilizers of the force allegedly included a committee of 17 tribal elders, as well as the former Chief Justice Ambrose Riiny Thiik.
A senior SPLA officer quoted in the leaked AU document explained, “Secret mobilization had happened before this that we were not aware of. It started earlier in November. Elders met and chose mobilizers at this meeting, to protect the president. The meeting was chaired by former Chief Justice, Ambrose Riiny Thiik. This force was called ‘Rescue the President’ [Dut ku Beny]."
"Almost 70% of anyone from Bahr al Ghazal was mobilized in this, in their thousands... Elders were moving from community to community."
SPLA refused to pay budget: 'Not a government program'
Amid rising political tensions in the months before December 2013, organizers of the militia from the Bahr al Ghazal region approached the defense ministry in Juba for financing. Officials refused. Ex-deputy Defense Minister D'Agoot said: "We did not pay for it from the Ministry of Defense, though they tried to get us to pay from our budget."
Without funding, the Mathiang Anyoor recruits underwent training without pay, according to an observer with ties to former recruits. But he said that President Salva Kiir provided an unspecified amount of money for 'feeding', via funds disbursed from his office.
"Mathiang Anyoor was a force recruited with understanding of the president. His office bore complete responsibility for the process, including feeding. None of them was paid while undergoing training because they were clearly told the government had no money but assured to be paid after training," the source explained.
Since the army leadership under General Hoth Mai was not involved, the president dealt directly with the lead coordinator, Malong Awan, he said. According to another observer, an SPLA general quoted in the AU document, Kiir dealt with the mobilizers himself: "The elders coordinated with the President. The financing came from his office."
In an interview with AU investigators in July 2014, Interior Minister Aleu Ayieny said that the Mathiang Anyoor was not a government program but a "local initiative."
“I was Chairman of the Defence and Security. They were recruited in 2012 when we fought the North. Many volunteered, especially in Bahr al Ghazal. The present Chief of Staff, then Governor of Bahr al Ghazal, retained them, though there was no budget for it. This was never a government program, but a local initiative. They were brought here to help in the fight," he said.
Though the army refused to pay for the militia, President Salva Kiir said in a speech in February 2014 that they were "fed by the people." He later contradicted this in another speech in November 2014, in which he said they were fed by governors of his native Bahr al Ghazal.
Kiir has acknowledged his role in creating the Mathiang Anyoor, but he preferred to call the group a 'reserve army' rather than a 'private army'.
Addressing a gathering of his political party on 15 February 2014, Kiir said, “Where did I recruit the private army from? Always there are people who act before the incidents happened. Those who thought of mobilization, mobilizing youth to be trained, was not a bad idea, because we have agreed all that we will have to recruit young people for military service."
"These were recruited. Is it because they were recruited in Bahr al Ghazal, in Lakes, in Western Bahr al Ghazal, in Warrap and Northern Bahr al Ghazal, is it because they were recruited there that they were my private army?"
The recruits were denied arms, salaries and food, "but they were fed by the people," he said.
At another event on 24 November 2014, Kiir spoke again about the Mathiang Anyoor. The president explained that he recruited the group from only his native Bahr al Ghazal region because other states had supposedly "refused to implement" an earlier recruitment order.
He also confirmed that the army had refused to fund the militia. "Four governors of Greater Bahr al Ghazal got the order and they recruited what is now known to be Mathiang Anyoor... And when they were recruited, the army general headquarters also refused to feed them. The same four governors took the responsibility to feed them and supervise their training," said Kiir.
Arrival in Juba
By several accounts, hundreds of Mathiang Anyoor were transferred from Bahr al Ghazal to the Juba area in December 2013 before their training was completed. This suggests that their deployment was rushed for political reasons in anticipation of violence around that month’s National Liberation Council meeting.
Akot*, a former Mathiang Anyoor soldier said they graduated in a "short time" with only basic infantry tactics training. This led to later discipline and morale problems. "They liked to drink alcohol intended to make them brave -- they got drunk and when enemy comes they will be defeated. They don’t have good feeding so they used to run away from the front line."
The African Union Commission of Inquiry draft report provides varying estimates of the number of Mathiang Anyoor brought to the Juba area in the days immediately preceding the December massacres. The lowest estimate was 321.
A lieutenant-colonel in the SPLA said a total of 740 militia trainees arrived from Bahr al Ghazal to Luri in Central Equatoria State, where Salva Kiir has a private farm, on 12 December.
Another officer, Maj-Gen. Marial Chanuong, who commands the presidential guard, told the AU committee, "Only those from Bahr al Ghazal were trained at Luri. They were 700. The President spoke to the battalion at Luri, near the President’s farm – we asked him to talk to them."
A second officer with the rank of major-general put the figure somewhat lower, explaining that there was a rumour at the time grossly exaggerating the size of the force: "There was a counter-rumor that Salva has mobilized his own tribe in Luri, near his farm, that he has brought 7,000 from Bahr al Ghazal – in reality, this force was 311, because 10 of them died in training.”
At least some of these Mathiang Anyoor were then brought from Luri into Juba city itself the day before the fighting erupted on the evening of 15 December, according to the lieutenant-colonel: "On 14 December they brought them [from Luri] to Tiger headquarters at Giyada."
The leaked African Union document also cites allegations that the Presidential Guard and the Mathiang Anyoor participated in a "general cleaning" exercise in Juba on 9 December 2013, the true purpose of which was a reconnaissance exercise to see where ethnic Nuers were living in the city, in preparation for the later massacres.
However, two of the sources cited in connection with this claim are now leaders of the armed opposition, and no other detailed evidence is provided.
Weapons
Some of the Mathiang Anyoor and other civilians in Juba took weapons after fighting started within Kiir's presidential guard. However, no definitive proof of where they got their guns was offered in either the AU Inquiry document or by sources interviewed by Radio Tamazuj.
Garang*, an ex-combatant of Mathiang Anyoor, told Radio Tamazuj they participated in the December fighting in Juba beginning two days after the "overthrow" -- a reference to President Kiir's claim that there had been a coup attempt on 15 December.
Another source, a general, told the AU he saw some of the Mathiang Anyoor arming themselves in Juba earlier than that: "This force was called 'Rescue the President' [Dut ku Beny]... On the 16th, some of the civilians got guns, either from National Security or Presidential Guard. I began to see civilians putting on uniform with a gun. This was a result of the mobilization the elders had done."
According to Kuan*, one of the ex-Mathiang Anyoor soldiers, they received grey desert-color uniforms and black weapons said to be from Libya.
Another former member acknowledged the involvement of Mathiang Anyoor in killings of civilians after the fighting had started in Juba. He said they "began to kill every Nuer man" in Juba prior to receiving orders not to continue.
The human rights division of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has reported that at least 225 civilians, mainly of Nuer origin, were killed in individual incidents in different neighborhoods of Juba on 16 December alone. In another single incident in the Gudele neighborhood, "at least 300 Nuer men, possibly up to 450," were massacred in a police building.
"Extra-judicial killings continued on a daily basis until 18 December," the UN mission reported.
UNMISS reports have generally not identified the perpetrators of these crimes by military unit, though the Presidential Guard has been mentioned and soldiers in SPLA uniforms. The fullest of the UN human rights reports, published in May 2014, mostly uses general terms such as "security forces" and "soldiers in uniforms and speaking the Dinka language."
Battlefield record and casualties
After the events in Juba, the Mathiang Anyoor also fought on the government side elsewhere in South Sudan as more SPLA units mutinied and the civil war spread. Former combatants spoke with pride about their successes on battlefields from December 2013 to May 2014. They also acknowledged that they suffered heavy casualties.
Manut* said, "Mathiang Anyoor must be respected by the government, all communities of South Sudan... because they have retaken Malakal, Bentiu, and Bor and Nasser. They are so many in number to be counted who have been killed by the rebel army, 'White Army.'"
After heavy fighting up through about May 2014, many of the Mathiang Anyoor fighting alongside SPLA on the frontline suffered supply and morale problems and deserted. The army has acknowledged mass desertions from the Jonglei front in June 2014 in particular.
The return of deserters from the Mathiang Anyoor to their native Northern Bahr al Ghazal state -- many of them armed -- prompted concern from state authorities.
In an interview with Radio Tamazuj on 1 July 2014, Deputy Governor Salva Chol Ayat called on deserted Mathiang Anyoor soldiers to report themselves to any nearby SPLA forces in the state, telling them not to remain in their villages with their weapons.
“Those people did not report themselves to the barracks up to now: one deserts and then goes directly to their village,” Ayat explained. He said that an SPLA team from Division 3 had been searching for deserters since mid-June.
As of February 2014, sources in Aweil said that Mathiang Anyoor forces were no longer operating independently, but had been integrated into other forces including SPLA Division 3 at Wunyiik and the National Security Service. Others have joined SPLA Division 6.
Praise from Salva Kiir
Salva Kiir has praised the Mathiang Anyoor, crediting them with saving the capital city Juba from a mutiny in December 2013 and for later enduring heavy fighting in frontline states.
In a speech in November 2014 he said, "Now what is my crime here? Is it because they were brought in when these people stormed everywhere in Juba? The army was not there. The army that we had was overwhelmed by all the militias of Riek Machar and then the recruitment he made in the neighborhood here."
"Those who fought in Bilpham headquarters were not army, they were civilians from the neighbourhood, they broke into the stores and they took weapons and started to fight the army. Ok, if I didn’t bring Mathiang Anyoor from Bahr al Ghazal, would we be staying here in Juba now?”
*Names of ex-combatants interviewed for this story have been changed.
Related coverage:
Timeline: Formation of the 'Mathiang Anyoor' in South Sudan (9 March 2015)