Gen. Gatwech’s son urges father to renounce violence ‘and return home’

JUBA, JULY 2, 2023 (SUDANS POST) –  A son of one of South Sudan’s opposition leaders is appealing to his father to renounce violence and return to the world’s youngest country in order to find a peaceful remedy for his grievances.

In a rare public statement to Sudans Post, Hoth Gatwech Dual, son of SPLM-IO Kitgwang leader General Simon Gatwech Dual, said young people have continued to die from conflicts he said have been created by the elders such as his father.

“Hold on dad, we want you to come back home,” Hoth said. “Your motherland South Sudan has missed you. Please come back home and some documents are waiting for you to solve and find a peaceful remedy for your grievances.”

The son of the former SPLA-IO military chief said that the conflict between his father’s forces and the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) is causing suffering for the South Sudanese people, especially the youth.

“You are fighting, and youth are suffering and I even myself as your own son I am suffering,” he said. “South Sudanese youths are not born to suffer in the hands of the old-aged men.”

Hoth called on his father to “stop this conflict” and to “come back home and solve your problems peacefully.”

Gatwech is a former chief of staff of the main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) who attempted in June 2021 to remove First Vice President Riek Machar Teny as leader of the group.

His attempt resulted in the emergence of the SPLM/SPLA (IO) Kitgwang faction that has based in Magenis, northern Upper Nile state, until it split into two after his deputy, General Johnson Olony Thabo, the leader of Agwelek, decided to join President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

Gatwech has since been fighting government forces as well as those loyal to General Johnson Olony resulting in the displacement of thousands of civilians from their homes and calls by the international community for end to fighting has not been heard.