Gatwech vows to ‘pursue’ Machar-allied forces towards gov’t base in Wadekona

JUBA – South Sudan opposition commander and self-imposed SPLM-IO leader General Simon Gatwech Dual has threatened to pursue SPLA-IO forces allied to First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny up to the base of South Sudan People’s Defense Forces in Wadekona in northern Upper Nile state.

This comes after the SPLA-IO factions clashed in Magenis on Monday morning in which General Gatwech’s forces claimed that Machar-allied SPLA-IO forces attacked their base from two different directions resulting in deadly clashes that Gen. Gatwech Dual’s forces claimed to have won.

In a statement this afternoon, General Gatjiath Deng, the SPLA-IO spokesman allied to General Simon Gatwech Dual said the Machar allied forces attacked them 30 kilometers from Magenis in an attempt to take over the holdout opposition base, but said their forces repulsed the attacks.

“The Office of the Spokesperson for Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition SPLA (IO) would like to inform the public that, today this morning at around 6:00AM, East African Time, the merciless militias under command of the former rebel Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon, came and launched attacks on the SPLA (IO) bases at Khorjalla 20k from Magenis GHQs, and the other one at Amut outskirt based 30k from Magenis,” he said.

“Moreover, the brave forces of the SPLA (IO) all under command of the interim Chairman and Commander in Chief, (C-in-C) General Simon Gatwech Dual, responded in self defence to the merciless militias more excessively and they have now been repulsed and running in disarray hopelessly, just nowhere about,” he added.

The senior opposition officer further vowed to “pursue them until their entering into the government’s trenches at either Kuek or Wadekona.”