In a recorded phone call obtained by Sudans Post, General Gatjiath could be heard telling an unidentified caller that he was invited to Juba by President Salva Kiir’s regime to represent General Simon Gatwech Dual in a talk chaired by national security chief General Akol Koor Kuc to possibly plan removal of Machar, President Salva Kiir’s own peace partner and first deputy.
“What they (General Akol Koor and other security officials during the meeting) said is that ‘go and mobilize your people and we will then make sure that you have power that can oppose this man (Riek Machar). If you remove him, we will came and sit in front of you in Magenis. When you remove him, we will not change the peace agreement’s implementation timeline. We will go based on the peace agreement. What we hate is this man (Riek Machar) alone, if you remove him, nothing will ever go wrong in all your requests,'” he could be heard saying in the audio.
The senior SPLA-IO officer said in the audio that what General Akol Koor told him is that what they all want is for General Simon Gatwech Dual to remove Machar and they will then tell him to go because he would be no longer the chairman of the SPLA-IO and will have no legitimate reason to stay in the position he currently holds.
“What we want is that if you remove him (Riek Machar), we will then tell Dr. Riek Machar that you have been rejected by your people and there is no need for us to return to war, so, you resign and then we will give them what was given to them by the peace agreement [position of First Vice President] and other positions including the nine ministerial positions,” he said of what was told him in the meeting.
“I saw this as something which is good because the politicians will run to us and beg us for positions under the supreme council of [the SPLM/SPLA-IO under] under General Simon Gatwech Dual. So generally, what I have understood is that they want us to remove this guy (Dr. Riek Machar) and then we take over the peace agreement and they also advise us not to bring another person as chairman of the SPLM-IO other than this old man with white hair (General Gatwech Dual) and you must all support him.
“You will not come to Juba as if you are defecting, but as the SPLM-IO faction which is mentioned in the peace agreement and what is written in the peace agreement will be given to you. This is the reason [Riek Machar and his men in Juba] tried to arrest me in Juba.”
Don’t you think they were right to arrest you if really went to Juba to do that conspiracy against the chairman?
What do you think the regime will surely implement and give you in the agreement if Dr Machar would not be there? For sure nothing except that they would turn to you and destroy you the same way .
In fact the person the person the regime hate most is General Simon himself.
I doubt, this man Gatwech is a person of integrity he wouldn’t be foolish to be lured by the regime in Juba for anything short of his dreams: fully implementation of the peace agreement . He was clear in his position that he wanted nothing but full implementation of the Revitalized peace agreement. He is not a man of position but the country is in his DNA and would not do something contrary to his doctrine