South Sudan rebel faction led by former First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar has broken the silence on the alleged barricade on their headquarters by pro-government forces.

On Sunday, the SPLA IG army together with some pro-government opposition forces claimed they had barricaded Machar rebel headquarters.

But in a Monday July 17 statement, the rebels dismissed the claims saying their forces are 25km away from Pagak, a town on South Sudan’s border with Ethiopia.

“The genocidal regime forces led by notorious commander Nhial Batoang and his fake Governor Bol Ruach Rom are now suffering and they are under the full control of freedom fighters at Thocdeng”, the rebels said in the statement.

They urged the public not to panic, describing the report as “wishful thinking” and “white propaganda” by government to raise the morale of the defeated forces who attempted to occupy their positions in Mathiang and other areas.

“Please denounce the white propaganda that merciless forces of Salva Kiir claimed to have approached and surrounded Pagak GHQs [General Headquarters], by which force should they be able to surround Pagak GHQs?” further noted the statement.

Machar rebels are reportedly assembled in big numbers in Thocdeng “in order to dislodge this genocidal regime forces from their local trenches that they dug after they had learned that their cars wouldn’t come out from the buddy soil of Wichluakjak”.

“This dead regime forces will not step foot to either Maiwut or Pagak GHQs. The Lion heart commander Cdr. major General Khor Chuol Giet of division five (5) shall never allow them to move forward or back,” the statement adds.