Garang’s son disowns General Gatwech’s SPLM-IO faction

JUBA – South Sudan opposition politician and former deputy minister of interior Mabior Garang De Mabior has disowned the SPLM-IO Kitgwang faction saying he only supported the Kitgwang general’s decision to remove First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny and other politicians who are members of the SPLM-IO.

Mabior made the remarks on Wednesday afternoon at Juba International Airport while travelling back to Kenya where he flown into the country upon the invitation of President Salva Kiir Mayardit to discuss matter such as the implementation of the security arrangements provided for in the revitalized peace agreement.

“Kit-Gwang is a [name of] a village in Upper Nile and it is not an organisation, the organisation is the SPLM/A-IO and I was formally a member of the SPLM/A-IO and the manner in which the SPLM/A-IO came to Juba caused the split. There was a silent split in the SPLM/A-IO that was moving until the Kit-Gwang declaration made the split public,” he told journalists at Juba airport yesterday.

“The Kit-Gwang declaration deposed Dr Riek Machar and deposed the political bureau of the SPLM-IO [as well as] the national liberation council. So we, the board of trustee members of the National Conversation South Sudan (NCSS) then decided to issue a statement supporting the principle of that declaration. [This] means that we have supported our deposition- our being deposed as members of the political bureau,” Mabior added.

However, Mabior has been making media statements on behalf of the SPLM-IO Kitgwang faction and opposition diplomats allied to General Simon Gatwech Dual hinted at his defection when he decided to travel to Juba without an authorization from the leadership of the SPLM-IO led by General Simon Gatwech.

“Yes, the movement under H.E 1st-Lt. Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual is aware that Mabior Garang de Mabior has decided to return to Juba on his own decision. He was not authorized by the Chairperson and Commander in Chief of the SPLM/SPLA (IO) to return, but he took the decision on his own and as such is no longer a member of the SPLM/A-IO anymore,” an SPLM-IO diplomat told Sudans Post this week.

“We wish Mabior all the best in his new political path. For us, we are still standing for the cause and we have raised our concerns regarding the future of the security arrangements in our meeting with the delegation of President Salva Kiir. We are waiting for them but we will not return to Juba until when all the arrangements ate in place for the security to be implemented,” the diplomat said in Khartoum.