Gatwech’s group dismisses ‘unfounded’ claim that senior officer defected with troops

JUBA – The breakaway Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) led by Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual has downplayed the defection of a senior officer and his troops to the SPLA-IO led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny, saying those who defected are two in number including the officer.

On Monday, Maj Gen. Moses Biel Rom said he and another general defected with at least 80 troops from the Kitgwang faction to join the SPLA-IO under Machar, accusing Gen. Gatwech and his rival Gen. Johnson Olony Thabo are not for peace.

“I defected alongside another general with 80 officers, 30 soldiers, and 50 police officers on Saturday. Now, I am at an SPLA-IO base in Pertet and these forces with me abandoned Kitgwang bases in Pieri and Juet of Yuai town. I do not have any problem with Gen. Gatwec Dual. I had some misunderstandings here with some officers but I do not want to go through details,” he said on Monday.

“So, I just want to announce that I have defected for the sake of peace and I will from tomorrow move to the SPLA-IO cantonment site in Motot,” he added.

Speaking to Sudans Post this morning, SPLA-IO Kitgwang spokesman Brig. Gen. Alfred Gach Thot dismissed the claim that the opposition officer defected with soldiers as ‘false’ and that he defected alone with another officer he said with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

“This is false and he has no troops. Actually, he hasn’t been active in the movement since March this year because he requested to go home for a family duty and since then we never heard from him and I think that he has succumbed to agitations to leave Kitgwang faction. So generally, it is two people joining the Riek Machar in Juba,” he said.

The opposition officer said the claim that he defected along with 30 police officers makes the defector’s claim unfounded because the SPLA-IO Kitgwang has no police separately from the army.

“Moses Biel defected with Lt. Col. Poch Mangok Dol who he referred to as a general. This is not true. Poch Mangok is not a general but a lieutenant colonel. And again, we don’t have police in the SPLA-IO Kitgwang. So, these unfounded claims make his entire defection laughable,” he said.