BENTIU – The conflict in Sudan appears to be spilling over the border, raising concerns about regional destabilization. South Sudan’s main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO), has detained a South Sudanese national, Jibril Tap Gatjiek, one of the foreign mercenaries fighting alongside Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in the ongoing conflict against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
The detention, along with accusations of Gatjiek recruiting fighters within South Sudan, throws a spotlight on the potential for the Sudanese conflict to destabilize its southern neighbor. Sudans Post first received information from two sources in Bentiu about the detention of Gatjiek who commands a unit of up to 1,000 South Sudanese fighters within the RSF. The sources allege that Gatjiek has been actively recruiting fighters in Unity State since December 2023 and was apprehended in May 2024 while attempting to reach the SPLA-IO headquarters in Tong.
The two sources claimed that Gatjiek was being detained along with 56 of his fighters. One of the two sources narrated:
“I heard he is here in Bentiu and is being detained by the SPLA-IO in Tong (an island northwest of Bentiu town) with 56 others. As far as I can tell, Tap came to South Sudan (Unity State) three times since the war [in Sudan] started. During these visits, he is said to have been recruiting and took forces to fight with the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan. The reasons why he came is that many of his forces were killed in Sudan and he was coming to top up his circle that’s declining.”
Sudans Post decided to travel to Tong where Gatjiek is being detained by the SPLA-IO and was allowed entry in the detention facility where Gatjiek, who also claimed that his soldiers are being detained in a separate facility, is being held.
SPLA-IO sector two spokesman Major Kerbino Yai Pazale denied claims of Gatjiek being detained with 56 others. He suspects Gatjiek of visiting Unity State for the purpose of recruiting fighters for the RSF. Pazale further alleges that Gatjiek previously defected from the SPLA-IO and joined the RSF before the outbreak of the Sudanese conflict. He said:
“He was one of our officers. He defected to the government under President Salva Kiir. Later, he defected again and went to Sudan, where he remained until the war broke out there. When the conflict erupted between the Sudanese government and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), he joined the RSF and became a senior commander. He is accused of being among those who destroyed property and killed civilians in Sudan,” he said.
He claims Gatjiek is responsible, like any other RSF soldier, for the destruction and civilian casualties in Sudan. He also alleges that Gatjiek attempted to recruit fighters in Unity State on several occasions. According to Pazale, Gatjiek first came to Unity State in March. He met with Major General Moses Ruai Khor, the area commander, in Garia (southwest of Heglig). Pazale alleges Gatjiek provided a list of fighters, claiming he wanted to quit the war in Sudan and bring his forces to join the SPLA-IO.
“We agreed and he went back to Sudan supposedly to bring his forces. But he didn’t return until mid-May when he came from Sudan and arrived in Tong, where our headquarters in Unity State is based. There, we observed that during his stay, he was trying to convince young people in the area to go and fight the RSF with him. That’s the reason for his detention. Now he is being held in Tong,” he concluded.
Sudans Post was given access by SPLA-IO authorities to Gatjiek’s grass-thatched cell but was denied recording a short question and answer conversation. Gatjiek said he came for “good will and not for but will”. According to him, he came to present the list of his men who he said wanted to join with him the SPLA-IO “but I was instead arrested and here I am. They are treating me well and I don’t complain of anything.”
According to Gatjiek, the force he commands is between 750 and 1,000. He said some of them are from Fashoda, Aweil, Abyei and Unity State. He said there are other South Sudanese commanders such as “Balat”, a Bull-Nuer former General Matip Nhial’s soldier, commanding a number of troops in Khartoum.’ He said that the number of South Sudanese is declining due to differences with the RSF. He said he had come to Unity State previously not for recruitment but to visit his family. Gatjiek said he hails from Nor Lamwel Payam of Rubkona county. Bentiu, the capital of Unity State, itself belongs to Panyiany Payam of Rubkona County.
Gatjiek said that at some point, fighting between his forces and the RSF broke out in Helat Kuku and resulted in the killing of 5 people (two among his forces and three from Arab elements of the RSF). Sudans Post could not independently verify this claim but found a widely circulated video online showing clashes between RSF Nuer elements and their Rezaigat counterparts in East Nile locality. The video’s caption claimed that the southern mercenaries killed all the Rezaigat.
While Sudans Post cannot tell that Gatjiek was referring to this incident, the video was published online in December 2023, the same date Gatjiek said his forces clashed with Rezaigat elements of the RSF. He said the fighting begun over weapons they captured from the Signal Corps in southern Bahri (also known as Khartoum North) when the RSF asked his soldiers to hand them over to the Arab soldiers which he said they refused and triggered fighting. Gatjiek said his forces were then transferred to Babanusa alongside the forces of General Stephen Buay Rolnyang, leader of the South Sudan People’s Movement (SSPM). Buay has previously denied any claims of ties with the RSF.
“After that fighting, we were transferred to Babanusa, and we fought there until our ammunitions ended. It is the time I begun coming to South Sudan, but my intention was to visit my family because I am from Unity State. To be exact, I am a citizen of Rubkona County, and I came to visit my people, and not to recruit them into the RSF”
ce on South Sudanese mercenaries
The RSF has relied extensively on foreign fighters including those from South Sudan. The SAF has also used mercenaries, but not to the extent of the RSF. There have been claims that South Sudanese opposition commanders have been fighting alongside the RSF. One of them is General Stephen Buay Rolnyang, the leader of the opposition South Sudan People’s Movement (SSPM). Buay in a previous interview with Sudans Post denied involvement with the RSF. But photos of his men who surfaced online have casted more doubts on his claims. The soldiers were seen wearing RSF uniforms.
Buay, currently negotiating with the South Sudan government in a Kenya-mediated peace initiative, is a former South Sudan army officer who was stripped of his rank for false claims of collaboration with rebel. He then fled the country and formed the SSPM in 2021 and later on claims of his participation alongside the RSF in the Sudanese conflict surfaced. Last year, the SSPDF, South Sudan’s army, deployed to the border alongside Sudan over fears of General Buay’s forces preparing to attack from Babanusa.
In December of last year, South Sudan’s Interior Minister, Angelina Teny, confirmed during the 7th Governors’ Forum the presence of South Sudanese nationals fighting on both sides of the Sudanese conflict. Images circulating on social media at the time further bolster these claims, depicting South Sudanese individuals clad in RSF uniforms.
“There is something strange happening, a lot of South Sudanese are also involved and engaging in war in Sudan on both sides. This has been officially reported. We are very concerned that they are getting access to these arms, and you never know where these arms are going to end up or what they could be used for. It is a concern for us. We don’t yet have evidence of arms crossing into South Sudan but the chances of it happening are very real,” Teny said at the time.
The involvement of South Sudanese in the Sudanese conflict raises serious concerns about potential weapons proliferation across the porous border. This apprehension has been echoed by both Teny and the head of the UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Nicholas Haysom. While expressing concern about potential recruitment activities within South Sudan, Haysom acknowledged the limitations of UNMISS in addressing border security issues.
“These are not issues that we in UNMISS can readily deal with. We don’t maintain the border, we don’t maintain customs, but we would be keen to alert communities and the authorities, if we can, to play a helpful role in minimizing what could be a potentially very disruptive spillover of the conflict,” Haysom said
