High-ranking SPLA-IO commander defects to SSPDF in Unity state

BENTIU – A senior commander from South Sudan’s main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLA-IO) led by First Vice President Riek Machar in Unity State has said he has defected to the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF).

Major General Peter Tap Gatdet Teny, SPLA-IO’s sector two chief of administration, announced his defection on July 8, claiming he was accompanied by “hundreds of fighters. He also alleged that “thousands” more were considering following suit.

Gatdet accused the SPLA-IO leadership under First Vice President Riek Machar of lacking clear administration and surrounding itself with “opportunists” who disregard the interests of the South Sudanese people.

“There is no good leadership in the SPLM-IO,” Gatdet told Sudans Post. “Riek Machar has surrounded himself with people who are opportunists and don’t believe in the happiness and prosperity of the people of South Sudan.”

Gatdet claimed a large force, numbering in the hundreds for now, had defected with him, with thousands more expected to join soon. He expressed dissatisfaction with the direction of the SPLA-IO and asserted a belief in rejoining the “mother government” led by President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

“I have defected with a huge force which I can say is in the hundreds right now and thousands of soldiers will soon make their announcement. The SPLM-IO is not going in the right direction, and I believe that there is nothing we should wait before going back to the mother government of His Excellency President Salva Kiir Mayardit,” he said.

Efforts to reach the SPLA-IO leadership in Unity State for comment were unsuccessful. However, opposition sources revealed that Gatdet initially traveled to Bentiu from a nearby SPLA-IO base to represent the group in welcoming the new Unity State governor.

Days later, a force sent to protect him was allegedly detained by heavily armed SSPDF soldiers, seemingly dispatched by the new 4^th infantry division commander Maj. Gen. Mathew Puljang Top.

Gatdet, a native of Koch County, commanded an operation that sneaked General Simon Gatwech Dual, leader of the SPLA-IO Kitgwang faction, from Juba during the initial outbreak of the civil war in December 2013.

Attempts to persuade Gatdet to return to the SPLA-IO, including meetings with a women’s group from his home county and elders, proved unsuccessful.

This is not the first instance of a senior SPLA-IO commander defecting in Unity State. Last year, Lieutenant General Simon Maguek Gai, the group’s former sector two commander, joined the SSPDF, citing similar concerns regarding leadership and nepotism under Machar.

Peace monitors have consistently attributed defections to ongoing insecurity despite the signing of the revitalized peace agreement in September 2018. The agreement, aimed at ending the five-year conflict, is viewed as violated by such defections.