JUBA – South Sudan opposition commander and leader of the breakaway SPLA-IO Kitgwang faction General Simon Gatwech Dual is reportedly frustrated with the stalled implementation of the Khartoum Peace Agreement which provides for reintegration of his forces into South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF), sources have claimed.
Gatwech in January this year signed a peace agreement with President Salva Kiir’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Government (SPLM-IG) providing for the reintegration of his forces into the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
Gatwech had sent a high-level delegation of his group to South Sudan’s capital Juba to follow up on the implementation of the agreement. The agreement says that the reintegration process into South Sudan People’s Defense Forces shall be completed within three months of signing the agreement.
But almost three months on, the reintegration process has not been started and the offices of the SPLA-IO Kitgwang faction have not been established in Bor, Malakal and Juba and a senior opposition official allied to Gen. Gatwech says the rebel commander is frustrated with the process.
“General Gatwech felt that he has been deceived by President Salva Kiir and is generally frustrated with the implementation of the peace agreement which we thought would answer out grievances,” the opposition official who requested not to be named told Sudans Post from the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
The official said General Gatwech has told his most close allies that he won’t return to Juba and that there are indications that Gatwech may decide to walk out of the agreement owing to the lack of will from President Salva Kiir Mayardit to implement the 2022 peace agreement.
“The return of General Gatwech is out of question He will not return to Juba because the situation is showing that Kiir is not willing to implement the peace agreement which we signed with him,” the official added.