“I will never return to Juba to work under Kiir” – Gen. Buay Rolnyang

JUBA — South Sudan’s rebel leader General Stephen Buay Rolnyang has vowed not to return to Juba to work under President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s government saying he has only decided to fight for regime change.

This comes a day after the former South Sudan army commander said he was forming a new rebel group that he has called South Sudan Patriotic Movement/Army which he said will fight, in alliance with other armed groups operating in the country, for removal of President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

In an exclusive interview with Sudans Post on Thursday, General Buay said he holds no grudges with General Paul Malong when asked why he decided to leave the Malong-led SSUF/A two months after joining it.

He however said he left it because General Paul Malong was negotiating a peace agreement that will possibly return him to Juba to work under the same government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit saying he won’t return to work under Kiir again.

“I have left the South Sudan United Front/Army (SSUF/A) because it has been negotiating with the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGONU) and there rumors that they will [soon] sign a peace agreement in Rome,” he said from the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

“But I want to tell you that I am not ready to return to Juba and work with President Kiir who always dishonors peace agreements,” he added.

The opposition leader said he won’t be in a position to negotiate with Kiir because President Salva Kiir has been dishonoring peace agreements citing the ongoing tactical delays in the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement.

“Even if we sign a peace agreement with him today, General Kiir will dishonor it and it will not work. There is no difference between the peace agreement signed by the SPLM-IO and the SPLM-IG, the government of South Sudan, and any future agreement that would be signed with the same government,” he said.

“So, any peace agreement being negotiated or will be signed in Rome is not an exception,” he stressed, adding that “I am fighting for regime change and I cannot go back to work under the very same Salva Kiir I have just left two months ago.”