Gatwech denies setting preconditions for his return to Juba

JUBA – South Sudan main armed opposition commander and leader of the breakaway SPLA-IO Kitgwang faction has denied, through his spokesman, that he has certain conditions that must be made before his return to South Sudan’s capital Juba.

This comes after a senior member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) Kitgwang faction told Sudans Post from the Sudanese capital Khartoum that General Gatwech Dual has called for the reintegration of his forces into the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces before he could return to Juba.

In an interview with the Juba-based Juba Monitor, James Kalany Mamuon, the press secretary for General Simon Gatwech Dual said his boss hasn’t put forth any preconditions for his return to Juba, and that a team which is already on the ground in the capital was preparing his arrival in the capital.

“Gen. Gatwech will be soon in Juba, we don’t have any condition for his return to Juba. The advance team is in preparation for his return and [for] the follow-up agreement as well,” Mamuon said as quoted by the Juba Monitor.

“Our military advance teams had already landed in Juba to follow up the agreement, the next [move] is to assembly the forces. Before they will be re-integrate into SSPDF after three months,” he added.

The outspoken opposition official went on to stress that South Sudan “needs development, roads, schools and the best hospitals in the region. We must do that only if we silence guns.”

Gatwech signed a peace deal with President Salva Kiir Mayardit last month providing for his return to Juba and the immediate integration of his forces and those belonging to Agwelek leader General Johnson Olony Thabo.