Testifying in his own defence at the 126th session of the Nasir trial, South Sudan's detained former first vice-president denied ordering General David Majur Dak to surrender and said the SPLA-IO cannot give up its command before forces are unified.
Riek Machar, South Sudan's former first vice-president and leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), told the special court trying him over the March 2025 Nasir attack on Monday 2 November that he does not command the White Army, the armed youth group prosecutors say fought alongside SPLA-IO forces, Eye Radio and Radio Tamazuj reported.
"I would re-emphasize that I am not the commander of the so-called White Army, for the reasons I have stated. Even the person who is the acting chairperson now, Hon. Regina Joseph Kaba, is not a commander of the White Army," he said, according to Eye Radio. "There are no parallel governments and no two states," he added, according to Radio Tamazuj.
Leadership dispute
Sudans Post (republished by Sudan Independent) said the remark affirmed Kaba's position as acting chairperson, to which she was appointed on 31 August. She replaced Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, who maintains he remains the legitimate acting chair. The two have issued orders suspending each other, dividing the movement's political and military leadership.
Nasir and the peace agreement
Machar denied telling Major General David Majur Dak to surrender during the fighting in Nasir, which began on 3 March 2025. "Following a meeting of the Presidency, I did my best to ensure that Gen. David Majur Dak was evacuated peacefully," he said, describing those who knew of his efforts but accused him anyway as "politically motivated". He denied holding 170 to 176 survivors hostage, saying his intervention got them to Juba, and described speeches at the general's funeral as inflammatory.
On the charge that he refused to give up his post as SPLA-IO commander-in-chief, Machar said the unification of forces under the 2018 Revitalised Agreement (R-ARCSS) was incomplete, leaving three formations: the Necessary Unified Forces, the South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF) and the SPLA-IO. He said he would relinquish the title only once forces were fully unified, and blamed senior officials for failing to fund the process.
His defence team complained that family visits to the seven co-accused held at the National Security Service's "Blue House" had been suspended without explanation and that their cells had been searched in their absence, including on the night before the hearing, Eye Radio reported.
The charges
Machar and seven co-defendants deny charges including murder, conspiracy, terrorism, treason and crimes against humanity. Prosecutors allege that SPLA-IO forces allied with the White Army killed 257 SSPDF soldiers, including Majur Dak, and destroyed or seized equipment worth about US$58 million. The court adjourned until Friday 6 November.
Image: Riek Machar, then South Sudan's vice-president, in his office, June 2012. Hannah McNeish / VOA, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.