Puot Kang Chol, suspended Minister of Petroleum and first accused in the Nasir incident trial, on Wednesday continued his defence before a special court in Juba during its 74th session, recounting his arrest and outlining his role in the Nasir incident, which he said was aimed at de-escalating tensions.
Read his first statement here.
Continuation of
statement as delivered:
...at this point, I shall get into the Nasir incident and the
context within which it happened. It is important to note at the onset that
about 20 violent clashes have so far been recorded between the youth in Nasir
and Ulang counties on one side, and the SSPDF in Nassir on the other. These
violations started from August 7th, 2020, all the way to March 3rd to 4th,
2025.
It is important to mention here, Your Lordship, that all
these violent clashes—with the exception of the March 3rd to 4th, 2025 Nasir
incident—were investigated by the CTSAMVM, and if Your Lordship contacts the CTSAMVM,
I am quite sure they will serve you with the results of their investigation.
The latest one has been dubbed the Nasir incident. In this statement, I will
focus on the Nassir incident which took place on March 3rd to 4th, 2025, as
this is what this case represents.
Your Lordships, I was arrested on March 4th, 2025, at 11PM.
at my residence. The house was surrounded, and about 10 people came inside my
apartment. One of the officers approached me and ordered me to go with them.
I asked them to identify themselves to me. He responded that
they came from the National Security Service. I then asked if they had any
warrant of arrest issued for them to execute. The officer answered that they
did not have one, but said that I had to go with them.
I went with them to the National Security Service Operation
Department on the riverside and spent about 10 minutes there, after which I was
told to go back home while being escorted. Immediately after our arrival at my
residence, a call came through ordering the officer in charge of my arrest to
take me back to the department.
Upon arrival at my residence, I found Brigadier General
Kamilo Gatmaikel, my bodyguards, and my cousin brothers at the gate, and I told
them to go inside the apartment. At this point, another team arrived and said
that the new order was that everyone who was staying with the minister must be
taken.
Accordingly, they ordered my bodyguard, who is a member of
the National Security Service, to go inside the apartment with them in order to
bring everybody and the guns of the guards. They went and brought everyone they
found inside the apartment, including students and their colleagues—a total of
nine—who had come home to watch a football match.
Brigadier General Kamilo Gatmaikel was arrested at the gate
where we found him talking with the boys. All of us, 12 in number, including
the gateman who was on duty at the apartment that night, were taken to the
riverside.
The gateman was released the next morning, while the other
nine were released later after a week at the riverside. Brigadier General
Kamilo Gatmaikel and I were moved to the Blue House detention facility after
two days at the riverside.
It was at this facility that I was ordered to sleep on a bed
made to stand on jerrycans for seven months, which caused me a back injury with
persistent pain.
Your Lordships, upon our arrest, our phones were taken
immediately—all of us—and they were taken by force. Somebody would just walk to
you and take your phone. Also, the passwords to our phones were not provided
voluntarily; they were obtained by force as well, on the 5th of March, 2025,
under explicit threat that we would face serious consequences if we did not
comply with the national security officers.
So with no choice, Your Lordships, we had to comply. During
this arrest, Your Lordship, there was no due regard to my immunity. When I
asked, I was told, “We were ordered to take you.”
And that is why, Your Honor, on the day when the lead
investigator tendered the prosecution documents to the court, there was no
document tendered that talked about either the lifting of my immunity or even
permission from His Excellency the President to order my arrest and
investigation.
A whole minister, Your Lordship, not removed from office,
was collected like a bag of rice from a shop in Konyokonyo.
I was interrogated on March 25th to 26th, 2025, in the Blue
House Hall. On March 25th, 2025, I was told that I was arrested because of the
Nasir incident.
Three documents were read to me as follows:
A.) Formation of the investigation committee on the Nassir incident.
B.) A Letter of formation of the
committee from the two counties of Nasir and Ulang by His Excellency the First
Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar, Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of the
SPLA-IO.
C.) Press statement by Comrade Pal Mai Deng
on behalf of the SPLA-IO as the official spokesperson.
After they finished reading the documents, I asked the
committee two questions:
First, what is the legal basis of the formation of the
committee to investigate the Nasir incident, when this incident is a violation
of the permanent ceasefire?
The response I got was that the Nasir incident happened
within South Sudan, and the government has the responsibility of investigating
and trying those accused of committing acts in violation of the law. This
statement was contrary to the provisions of the agreement on resolving issues
regarding violations of the permanent ceasefire.
Second, why am I being investigated by a committee whose
membership involves soldiers when I am not a soldier?
The answer was that the incident involved the SSPDF, and
therefore they must be part of the committee.
Your Lordship, when I was arrested, I did not know what
happened thereafter at home. I was informed in September last year that after
my arrest, my house was raided by the National Security Service and 10 cars
were taken from the house.
It is alleged that one of my cars, a bulletproof vehicle,
was taken by one of the strongmen of this country, in the person of the Chief
of General Staff, General Paul Nang, and that he is using it. This car, Your
Lordship, is my private personal car. Even if I were to be sentenced to death,
it belongs to my family.
Unless we have gone back to village life, where when you
defeat your enemy, you raid his cows.
Your Lordship, I am now coming to my role during the Nasir
incident. I believe that my role during the Nasir incident was positive.
In October 2024, before I went to Kenya for the peace talks,
we were informed that the Joint Defense Board (JDB), had formed a committee
that had gone to Nasir and came back with a report that the people of Nasir
wanted the Necessary Unified Forces (NUF) to be deployed there because the
relationship between the SSPDF and civilians was not good.
As a result, the JDB committee, under the leadership of
Lieutenant General James Koang Chuol, recommended the deployment of the Necessary
Unified Forces to Nasir to be organized and effective. The JDB met and approved
this recommendation.
Based on this agreement, I met Advisor Tut Gatluak Manime in
his office, together with the then CDF, General Santino Deng Wol, who confirmed
that the JDB had agreed to send the necessary Unified Forces to Nassir.
However, they had a challenge of transporting components
from Torit and Bahr el Ghazal to Juba, and those in Renk to Malakal. We agreed
that Honorable Tut Gatluak would help transport those from Torit and Bahr el
Ghazal to Juba, and those from Renk to Malakal.
Businessmen from Nasir and Ulang would provide their boats for
free as their contribution, and I, as my contribution, would provide fuel for
those boats to transport components from Juba to Malakal.
Unfortunately, Your Lordships, General Santino Deng Wol was
relieved before this agreement could be executed.
In February 2025, I went to Dr. Benjamin Bol Mel, former
Vice President, at his residence to inform him that His Excellency the First
Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar, was requesting His Excellency President Salva
Kiir Mayardit, to convene a Presidency meeting to discuss the Sobat Corridor
situation, so as to have one unified message for the people of South Sudan.
Dr. Benjamin Bol Mel told me that the President was busy but
he would inform him accordingly.
On February 27th, 2025, now that there was no response, His
Excellency the First Vice President wrote a letter to His Excellency the
President, with copies to IGAD leaders and other relevant bodies, requesting a
meeting to discuss the situation in Western Equatoria, Western Bahr el Ghazal,
and Upper Nile State.
Now that the meeting of the Presidency had not yet been
called and the situation was escalating, I was called on March 1st, 2025, by
His Excellency the First Vice President to his residence to discuss the
situation in the Sobat Corridor.
We agreed that the situation needed to be de-escalated
because it was not healthy for the country. As a result, His Excellency the
First Vice President initiated discussions with the Upper Nile Governor and the
Commissioners of Nassir and Ulang Counties to get firsthand information and
agree on the way forward.
Your Lordship, I want to clarify why I chose Bol Mel. For
clarity purposes, Bol Mel was the contact point for the President, and I was
the contact point for the First Vice President. That was in 2023.
In 2018, 2019, and 2020, Mayiik Ayii was the contact person
for the President. In 2021, 2022, and half of 2023, Advisor Tut Gatluak was the
contact person.
This issue of contact persons was agreed in Khartoum in
October 2018 in a meeting chaired by the former President of Sudan, Omar
Al-Bashir. I remain the contact person even today.
Your Lordship, His Excellency the First Vice President,
Governor Odhok Oyai, and the Commissioners of Nasir and Ulang agreed to hold
discussions with chiefs and youth leaders from the two counties.
Two phone conferences were convened between the First Vice
President, the Governor, the Commissioners, chiefs, White Army, and youth
leaders.
During these conferences, two important resolutions were
made:
A.) Boats should be allowed to go to Nasir and be received by commissioners,
chiefs, and youth leaders.
B.) The youth who had assembled in Nasir must go back to their respective
villages.
I was present during all these phone conferences and the
phone that the First Vice President was using, was on a loudspeaker because he
wanted me to what the chiefs, the youth leaders, the governor and the
commissioners were saying.
On March 2nd, 2025, we were informed that the youth that had
come to Nasir had gone back to their respective villages. On the same day, we
were informed that there would be a meeting of the expanded Presidency on March
3rd, 2025, which would include the High-Level Standing Committee, the National
Transitional Committee, and a representative of the civil society
organizations.
It was…
Adjournment
The presiding judge adjourned the session to Friday May 8,
2026, for Chol to continue presenting his statement.
Puot Kang Chol and his seven co-accused including first vice
president Dr. Riek Machar face charges including murder, conspiracy, terrorism,
treason, destruction of public property and crimes against humanity.
Machar remains under house arrest, while the co-accused are
detained in National Security Service facilities in Juba.
Prosecutors allege that forces linked to the SPLM-IO and the White Army killed 257 South Sudan People’s Defence Forces soldiers, including a commander, and destroyed or seized military equipment worth about $58 million during an attack on a military garrison in Nasir in March 2025.
