Gen. Gatwech ‘not sure’ when talks with Kiir will start

JUBA – South Sudan opposition commander and leader of the breakaway Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) faction is not aware of when peace negotiations with President Salva Kiir Mayardit are going to start and that he returned to Magenis to avoid sitting idly in Khartoum while troops are on the ground.

Speaking to Sudans Post this afternoon, an opposition diplomat allied to General Gatwech told Sudans Post from the Sudanese capital Khartoum that Gen. Gatwech has returned to Magenis because he thought he was being kept tactically in Khartoum while his troops are back in the bush.

“General Simon Gatwech Dual returned to Magenis because there are no peace negotiations with the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit. They have used the Sudanese protests as a justification for what they are currently doing to us, keeping us in Khartoum while there are no peace talks,” the diplomat said.

“They want to do to us what they did to Riek, keeping him in hotel while his troops suffered until they abandoned him. But Gen. Gatwech Dual is not as hotel man that is why he returned to Magenis because he cannot sit in Khartoum when he is not sure when peace talks with the government will resume,” the official added.

The senior opposition diplomat further said the SPLM-IO Kitgwang faction is for the full implementation of the revitalized peace agreement and that the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit need to speed up the process of talks because they don’t waste time believing in ’empty promises’.

“We are for peace, General Gatwech, General Johnson Olony, General Thomas Mabor Dhol all of us are for the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement especially the security arrangements and that is why we disagreed with Riek Machar who is only for the implementation of some provisions of Chapter one which talks about his return to the position of First Vice President,” the official added.