Machar won’t accept to give part of his share to Kitgwang generals – official

JUBA – South Sudan’s First Vice President and leader of the country’s main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) Dr. Riek Machar Teny will never accept to give part of its share provided for in the revitalized peace agreement to members of the SPLM-IO Kitgwang faction led by General Simon Gatwech Dual, a senior opposition official allied to Machar has said.

This comes after General Simon Gatwech, the former SPLA-IO military chief who defected from Machar in early August, asked President Kiir to give them part of the SPLM-IO share of power allocated to the group by the revitalized peace agreement signed by Kiir and Machar in September 2018.

Speaking to Sudans Post on Tuesday night, Dut Majokdit, a member of the SPLM-IO National Liberation Council (NLC) and close Machar ally said General Simon Gatwech Dual has already defected from the group and won’t be allowed to temper with allocate percentage of the SPLM-IO as per the revitalized peace agreement.

“First of all, these people of Kitgwang faction defected from the SPLM-IO, they are not members of the SPLM-IO under Dr. Riek Machar Teny that signed the peace agreement and given the fact that the Kitgwang faction is no more, they are now negotiating with the government, not with the SPLM-IO and this is why they shouldn’t demand a share from the SPLM-IO’s share of power as per the agreement,” he said.

“So, if they are to be given anything, it is President Salva Kiir’s government that will give them something from his own share of power, not the SPLM-IO because they are not a part of the movement anymore. There is no reason or there is no way for the SPLM-IO to give a part of its share to people who have defected from us. This is something the SPLM-IO will never accept,” he vowed.

The senior opposition official further renewed calls for President Kiir to appoint the person the main armed opposition group nominated for the deputy minister of interior in February this year saying they won’t accept to replace the nominee as the peace agreement does not give the privilege to reject other parties’ nominees to President Kiir.

“Now, we are also waiting for the appointment of the deputy minister of interior. We haven’t nominated another person,” Majokdit said.

“We still stick to the person we nominated as deputy minister of interior and the SPLM-IO won’t accept this latest attempt to violate the revitalized peace agreement by the president because according to the agreement, the president has to appoint any person we nominate,” he added.