Gatwech’s group ‘not aware’ advance team in Juba not complying with directive to return to Sudan

JUBA — SPLA-IO’s breakaway Kitgwang faction led by General Simon Gatwech Dual has said that it is not aware that some members of the group who were sent to Juba as a part of an advance team are refusing to obey Gatwech’s directive to return to Sudan over stalled peace implementation.

Last January, Gen. Gatwech signed a peace deal with the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party led by President Salva Kiir Mayardit to end the ongoing conflict and opposition infighting in several parts of the country.

The deal provides for the integration of Gen. Gatwech’s forces into the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) within a period not exceeding three months.

As a show to commitment to the implementation of that agreement, Gatwech in late January sent a huge advance team comprising senior politicians and military officers to follow up with the implementation process of the deal, but none of the provisions of the agreement has been implemented four months on and top diplomats and politicians close to Gatwech blame Kiir for dragging his feet on the deal’s implementation.

In protest, Gatwech issued a directive recalling the advance team to the Sudanese capital Khartoum for consultations after the failure of the team to pursue Juba’s government to implement the agreement.

But reports are now emerging alleging that most members of the team are refusing to return to Khartoum with some saying that the directive was not meant for the advance team, but for the government of President Salva Kiir.

Speaking to Sudans Post in an exclusive interview this evening, Col. Alfred Gach Thot, the military spokesman of the SPLA-IO Kitgwang faction, said he was not aware of the reports, but confirmed that Gen. Gatwech had wrote a directive recalling the whole advance team to Sudan.

“I was with the chairman and commander in chief when he wrote a directive letter for calling advance teams back to Sudan to brief him about the progress of the agreement and after that, I left Magenis to the ground where access of communications is hard,” he said.

“I’m not aware if some of our advance teams are not complying with the directive [of the chairman and commander in chief] Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual,” he added.