Gatwech dispatches high-level military advance team to Juba

JUBA — South Sudan opposition commander and leader of the breakaway Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) Kitgwang faction, General Simon Gatwech Dual, has dispatched a high-level military advance team to South Sudan’s capital Juba.

This comes after the controversial opposition commander, who broke away from First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar to form a group of his own in August last year, signed an agreement on the status of his forces with representatives of President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s ruling SPLM party.

The agreement, which was signed in the Sudanese capital Khartoum last month, provides for the integration of General Simon Gatwech’s forces into the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF).

It also culminated in the issuance of a general amnesty for him by President Salva Kiir Mayardit, making it possible for him to travel to Juba without legal issues.

In a statement this morning, James Kalany Mamuon, the press secretary for General Gatwech, said an advance team comprising senior members of the SPLM-IO Kitgwang faction has just arrived at Juba International Airport.

“The SPLM-IO-Kitgwang military advance team has finally touched down at Juba International Airport,” the senior opposition official said, without making further comments.

It remains unclear if General Gatwech will also travel to Juba as some media reports have recently suggested that the South Sudanese military commander will do.

But an opposition diplomat allied to General Gatwech last week told Sudans Post that General Gatwech and General Johnson Olony Thabo will not travel to Juba until when there are indications that that the agreement signed with the government will be implemented.