President Salva Kiir. [Photo: Courtesy]
JUBA – South Sudan’s suspended Minister of Petroleum, Puot Kang, has accused senior allies of President Salva Kiir of being behind the March 3–4 Nasir garrison attack, which resulted in the killing of SSPDF Gen. David Majur Dak and 257 soldiers.
Prosecutors earlier alleged that forces of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), allied with the White Army militia, killed 257 South Sudan People’s Defence Forces soldiers, including commander David Majur Dak, and destroyed or seized military equipment worth about $58 million in an attack on a garrison in Nasir in March 2025.
However, Chol pushed back, alleging during the 80th court session on Friday that individuals within the president’s inner circle deployed non-unified forces to Nasir, which he said resulted in the Nasir incident.
“It is important to inform this honourable special court and the people of South Sudan that the Nasir incident, our arrest, and the subsequent war that is going on in South Sudan are squarely a responsibility of our accusers,” Chol said.
Chol, the first accused in the ongoing incident of the Nasir trial, accused Dr Benjamin Bol Mel, former VP; Dr Martin Elias Lomuro, Cabinet Minister; Gen. Chol Thon, Defence Minister; Michael Makuei Lueth, Justice Minister; Gen. Paul Ngang Majok, former Chief of Defence Forces, of planning the Nasir incident.
“These individuals pushed for deployment of non-unified forces to Nasir instead of deployment of Necessary Unified Forces as agreed by the Joint Defence Board (JDB),” he said.
“They pushed for bombardment of civilians’ areas in Nyirol County of Jonglei State and Nasir and Ulang counties of Upper Nile State. This was in February 2025.”
Chol claimed Kiir’s allies also pushed for the abrogation of the 2018 peace deal by arresting their main partners to the peace agreement and subsequent trial.
“They made inflammatory statements against the R-ARCSS, the SPLM/A-IO, those of us that are arrested, and the Nuer community at large when Dr Martin Elias and Michael Makuei went on air and categorised Nuer as a hostile community,” he said.
“This statement alone justified the reasons as to why the 21 of us or the 8 accused sitting before you are all from the Nuer community when both the membership and leadership of SPLM/A-IO are made up of all South Sudanese.”
Chol alleged that none of the eight accused facing charges of treason, crimes against humanity, mass murder, terrorism and destruction of property planned an attack on Nasir military garrison.
“I would like to inform this honourable special court that we, the eight accused before the court, or 21 of us, have never and ever agreed to attack the SSPDF garrison in Nasir because we are for peace and we stand by it,” he said.
“We have never met physically or virtually or on phone to discuss any agenda that is against the implementation or violation of the agreement, and that is why the prosecution and their witnesses failed to bring any documentary evidence of our meeting or minutes of the meeting to prove that we really planned to attack the SSPDF garrison in Nasir.
Presiding Judge James Alala Deng formally adjourned the hearing to Monday, May 25, 2026, for judges to continue examining the first accused, Puot Kang Chol.
Machar, a key opposition figure and former rebel leader, is among eight accused in the case, which has drawn significant political and public attention.
The accused include Riek Machar Teny, 73; Puot Kang Chuol, 40; Mam Pal Dhuor, 37; Gatwech Lam Puoch, 66; Lt. Gen. Gabriel Duop Lam, 53; Camilo Gatmai Kel, 47; Mading Yak Riek, 45; and Dominic Gatgok Riek, 27.
Prosecutors allege that forces of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in-Opposition (SPLA-IO), allied with the White Army militia, killed 257 South Sudan People’s Defence Forces soldiers, including commander David Majur Dak, and destroyed or seized military equipment worth about $58 million in an attack on a garrison in Nasir in March 2025.
