Gatwech reacts to gov’t threat of exclusion from national army: I am not a position seeker

JUBA – The leader of the breakaway main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) Kitgwang faction Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual has said that he is not looking for positions and luxurious life in Juba after the government threatened to exclude him from the professional national army should he not join now.

Last week, defense minister Angelina Teny said during the graduation ceremony of the graduation of the unified forces in Upper Nile State’s capital Malakal that Gatwech and his rival General Johnson Olony Thabo won’t be allowed into the unified national army once the reunification process is completed unless the join now.

In response, Gen. Gatwech said he is looking for a genuine peace and not an agreement to accommodate those he said are looking for positions and luxurious life in Juba, and accused the government of having no political will to implement the Khartoum Peace Agreement it signed with him in January this year.

“On the calls made by the Defense Minister of R-TGoNU for SPLM/A-IO Kitgwang to join the second phase of the implementation of the security arrangements or face exclusion from peace implementation, the leadership of SPLM/A-IO Kitgwang is aware that everybody in South Sudan is yearning for peace and stability, but the peace that we are looking for is not about ideals, imaginations, or positioning ourselves into positions that will drain out the bare resources which can be used for essential services to our vulnerable people in our society,” Gatwech’s press secretary Lt. Col. Nyang Gony Gai said in a statement extended to Sudans Post this afternoon.

“However, the failure to implement 16^th January 2022 Khartoum Peace Agreement between SPLM/A-IO Kitgwang and the government proof it that the narrative from Juba is not true and the involvement of government officials in setting SPLM/A-IO Kitgwang apart, that dismantle the implementation process of the agreement has contributed in the ongoing violence in West Bank of Upper Nile State and Northern part of Jonglei State,” the statement added.

The statement further reiterated its commitment to the implementation of the agreement with the government and called for an inclusive process including all holdout opposition groups in order to achieve permanent peace in the world’s youngest country.

“The SPLM-IO Kitgwang is ready for peace and express its firm stand that any new political process should be an inclusive process with all opposition groups and stakeholders be invited and included in the peace process to pave way for viable and effective approach towards finding a lasting solution to the situation in the country,” it said.