Gatwech dismisses call for IDPs to return before deployment of peace forces as ‘mockery’

JUBA, MARCH 4, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – The leader of the breakaway SPLM/SPLA (IO) Kitgwang faction General Simon Gatwech Dual has issued a statement rejecting calls by the government for the internally displaced persons and refugees to return home, saying the security situation is not yet safe for the IDPs outside the camps.

Last week, First Vice President Riek Machar visited the former UN POC in Juba where thousands of displaced citizens are seeking shelter. Machar told the IDPs that they should return home and that the unified forces would be deployed within around two weeks to provide security to citizens in different parts of the country.

President Salva Kiir Mayardit also during a meeting with internally displaced persons last month also called on the internally displaced person and refugees to return to their homes and promised that the government will forces to protect them and to also allocate a land for those wishing to live in the capital Juba.

In a statement, Gatwech dismissed the call by the two leaders of the transitional government as a mockery to the internally displaced person who he said have legitimate concern for their safety and said that South Sudan is not safe yet for the displaced person.

“The mockery call made by the Transitional Government of National Unity for IDPs to leave U.N Camps before the commencement of the deployment of the “Necessary Unify Forces” and full implementation of the security arrangements is to be considered the most desperate attempt by the R-TGoNU to implicate the citizens and their failure in realization of what it meant for credible security arrangements and implementation of the Peace Agreement,” Gatwech said in the statement extended to Sudans Post.

“What kind of security protection will unarmed security personnel provide to the citizens? The newly graduated unified forces are not yet equipped let alone being deployed in the areas of their mandate.

“The security arrangements which was stipulated in the 2018 Agreement is not just about passing out of the personnel with sticks but a combination of training, passing out of the forces, provision of necessary military equipment and the deployment of the forces into the most sensitive areas for civilians and property/economic protections.

“In this context, the SPLM/A-IO Kitgwang wishes to raise serious concerns over the R-TGoNU calls for IDP’s to leave U.N Camps before deployment of Unified Forces in the most sensitive areas as indicated in 2018 Peace Agreement.

“The SPLM/A-IO Kitgwang believe that, finding a peaceful solution to finally end the conflict as well as providing the security will be critical factors informing choices to voluntarily enable IDP’s to leave the PoCs in the future.”