Magenis leadership conference postponed ‘until further notice’ over financial shortcomings  

JUBA – South Sudan’s main armed opposition group SPLM-IO faction led by former SPLM-IO chief of staff Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual has postponed the Kitgwang, (or Magenis) leadership consultative conference that was slated for September 30^th 2021.

This comes hours after two senior SPLM-IO members in Magenis told Sudans Post that the conference was unlikely to go as planned due to lack of a unified agenda for the conference which would bring together different opposition groups.

In a letter addressed to the Chairman of the SPLM-IO Political Wing Henry D. Odwar, Gen. Gatwech said the conference cannot go through as planned because of unforeseen financial shortcomings the movement has faced.

“Due to shortage of the financial resources, the military command leadership decided to postpone the Kit-Gwang leadership conference until further notice and herby rendering my apology for any inconvenience caused,” Gen. Gatwech said in a letter to Odwar.

Early today, two opposition officials in Magenis told Sudans Post exclusively that there were outstanding disagreements as to what will be the agenda of the largest opposition gathering since the split of the SPLM-IO in August.

The official said Gen. Johnson Olony and others wanted the conference to be used as an opportunity to declare full-blown war against President Kiir’s government, while others including Odwar and Gatwech wanted more time for the opposition to set its own agenda and restructure group before inviting other opposition forces.

“Some of them including General Johnson Olony Thabo see that there is no time to waste and there is need for all the opposition groups in South Sudan to use the Magenis conference as an opportunity to declare resistance against the regime of President Salva Kiir Mayardit,” one of the two officials said Saturday morning.

“But the SPLM-IO itself hasn’t yet set its own agenda and that is why it should not invite other opposition groups to participate in the conference. This will render the SPLM-IO an opposition group without viable agenda and reason to fighting the leadership of President Salva in Juba,” the source added.