The police administration in Gbudue state has dismissed over 130 officers for allegedly defecting to the armed opposition group in search of military ranks.

According to the state Police Commissioner, the officers left their units and joined the SPLA-IO so that they can later be reintegrated into the force as senior officers.

The September 2018 peace deal says personnel within the various forces shall undergo training and reunification.

Major General James Monday Enoka says the officers left without permission.

He said a disciplinary tribunal charged them for deserting their positions between August 2018 and April 2019.

“Those who were under discipline measures for the whole process were 174, but 5 who appeared before the court were set free. There are 27 pending cases. 5 others were also dismissed, and so we have 136 police personnel who were dismissed during this period,” Maj. Gen. Enoka said.

He said the officers will not be allowed to serve in the police force anymore. 

Enoka appealed to all the parties to ensure no one is accepted or recruited into its ranks, just to gain military stars.

He said the act is demoralizing the officers who remain behind while seeing their colleagues acquire fake military ranks after switching sides.

“Their colleagues join the SPLA-IO and then return with stars. You will find that he was senior to that officer who defected, but now he is junior, so that officer will hurry and join the opposition. So this question of higher ranks has been one of the biggest problems we have,” Enoka asserted.

The Cessation of Hostilities agreement signed in Khartoum in 2018, prohibits parties from recruiting new officers after the signing of the peace agreement.

General Monday Enoka said the matter has been reported to the ceasefire monitoring body, CTSAMVM, to investigate and discourage the luring of soldiers using military ranks.