Kiir, Machar to be held accountable for crimes against humanity – Gatwech

JUBA, MAY 21, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – The leader of the SPLM-IO Kitgwang faction General Simon Gatwech Dual has said that President Salva Kiir Mayardit and First Vice President Dr Riek Machar Teny will be held accountable for crimes against humanity.

In a statement released on Thursday, Gatwech who is stranded in the Sudanese capital Khartoum since outbreak of conflict last month said the government in Juba had “innocently targeted the civilians in Greater Fangak counties.”

He said that Kiir and Machar are “the same coin” and that they had both failed the people of South Sudan who will be held responsible for any crimes which were committed during the war and also for delaying a durable peace.

“President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his first vice President Dr Riek Machar are the same coin, they both failed the people of South Sudan, and they will be held responsible for any crimes which were Committed during the War and also for delaying a durable peace,” he said.

Gatwech’s remarks come after the return the Agwelek commander General Johnson Olony, his former deputy in the SPLM-IO Kitgwang faction, to Juba as part of the implementation of a 2022 peace agreement to integrate his forces to the SSPDF.

Gatwech had blamed last year’s violence in Upper Nile state on General Olony who he alleged was being funded by the government of President Kiir and has on several occasions appealed to the international community for intervention.