“Forgive me”, Gen. Gatwech appeals to Kiir for amnesty

JUBA – The leader of South Sudan’s main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) faction General Simon Gatwech Dual has issued a written position on the revitalized peace agreement as requested by the Sudanese government and has appealed to President Salva Kiir Mayardit to issue a general amnesty.

Gen. Gatwech was last the SPLA-IO chief of staff before breaking away from the group in August following an attempt in which he and other senior SPLA-IO commanders such as General Johnson Olony Thabo and General Thomas Mabor Dhol sought to remove First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny as the leader of the SPLM-IO.

Last week, he met in the Sudanese capital Khartoum with a delegation of the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit to prepare for talks on the re-commitment to the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement and the Sudanese government which is set to mediate between the South Sudan parties asked Gatwech to issue a position paper on the implementation of the 2018 peace agreement.

In a position paper today, Gen. Gatwech stressed that the “security arrangements are central to political stability in our nascent republic” and that the SPLM-IO faction he leads “aspires to restore the dignity of the South Sudanese people by addressing the problem of political violence in our land.”

He said the revitalized peace agreement “was the hope and still the hope for a lasting peace in South Sudan” but then said the “the non-implementation of many of its important previsions, especially the provision of security arrangements, which is the backbone of the agreement, has led many to lose hope in the R-ARCSS and that’s the main reason behind the Kitgwang Declaration.”

He said the infamous Kitgwang Declaration “came about as result of non-implementation of the security arrangement provision with the hope that R-ARCSS will be fully implemented, we welcomed and appreciate the willingness of the government of the Republic of South Sudan for their tireless effort to bring peace and stability in the country.”

In the position paper, Gatwech called for a “general amnesty [that] should be granted to the SPLM/A-IO Kitgwang Declaration leadership as a sign of good faith for successful negotiation” from the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit before any talk is started between him and President Salva Kiir Mayardit.