The South Sudan Reform Movement/Fighters (SSRM/F), an armed opposition group, has called on the Nuer White Army to sever all affiliations with the SPLM-IO and its leader, First Vice President Riek Machar. The group accuses Machar of being politically constrained by the revitalized peace agreement and claims he no longer represents the interests of South Sudanese youth.
In a statement released to Sudans Post, SSRM/F’s political and mobilization secretary, Both Yich Yat, urged the militia—also known as Gojam or Terchuong—to distance itself from any government-aligned entity, including the SPLM-IO. He described the revitalized peace deal, known as the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), as fragile and ineffective.
“Reformists are calling on all members of the Nuer White Army to renounce the SPLM-IO and its leadership,” Yat said. “Our future as the younger generation matters more than taking instructions from leaders who have submitted to the regime.”
Yat encouraged the militia to align instead with the SSRM/F, led by former SPLM-IO military governor of Sobat State, Duer Tut Duer, promising a push for “fundamental change and genuine peace.”
He further called on South Sudanese citizens to unite against what he described as the “rogue regime” led by President Salva Kiir and his inner circle of military leaders. The SSRM/F also urged the White Army to recognize its leadership as the only legitimate command and to take up arms in Jonglei State’s Ayod and Fangak counties, with plans to expand operations toward Bahr el Ghazal from Unity State.
The Nuer White Army, an ethnic militia that allied with Machar’s forces during the civil war between 2013 and 2018, has long lacked formal political alignment. However, it has often been mobilized by Nuer leaders to exert regional influence.
This appeal comes just weeks after the militia withdrew from Nasir and Ulang counties in Upper Nile State, territories it had seized in March after fierce clashes with government forces, in which a senior South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) commander was killed.