Machar not answering my calls and I informed him of Dhiling Keah’s suspension – General Gatwech Dual

JUBA – Military chief of South Sudan’s main armed opposition group, General Simon Gatwech Dual, is saying that he had informed First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny who is the group’s leader before he suspended the director of Military Intelligence General Dhiling Keah Chuol.

On Thursday, the SPLA-IO army chief suspended General Dhiling Keah from his duties as military intelligence director. General Dual cited several reasons one of which is that the senior opposition commander is making baseless accusations against him such as rebelling against the system.

Following the suspension, Machar issued another order directing SPLA-IO military units that the suspension is invalid because “it is only the commander-in-chief who can take such measures. As such this press statement is to be ignored with immediate effect.”

When asked during an interview with the Netherlands-based Radio Tamazuj if he had informed Machar, General Gatwech said he did so five to seven days before he could suspend the director of military intelligence.

He said he had made several attempts to contact Machar after the line dropped but his warnings seemed to be ignored.

“I informed Dr. Machar about five to seven days before I took action. I asked Dr. Machar if he knew about the military supplies that had been brought. Then the phone line cut off. I called again and he did not answer,” he said.

“I called again four more times and he did not pick my calls until I wrote him a message on his WhatsApp asking about what the supplies are. Again I wrote him another message that I had suspended this officer of mine because of these reasons,” he added.

“I enumerated the itemized reasons. I told him that this issue has to be resolved. For me, I am in the bush. I am not inside there in Juba. He (Machar) is there as the First Vice President and he still says he is the Commander-in-Chief. The Commander-in-Chief is Salva Kiir.”