SPLA-IO denies losing high-ranking officer during clash with Gen. Gatwech’s forces

JUBA – South Sudan’s main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny has denied a claimed by General Simon Gatwech Dual’s group that a senior officer belonging to Machar was killed during clashes on Sunday.

In an interview with Sudans Post on December 26, Brig. Gen. William Gatjiath Deng, the SPLA-IO spokesman allied to General Simon Gatwech Dual, said a senior opposition officer allied to Machar who commanded the forces that he said had attacked Magenis was killed by their forces.

General Gatjiath however fall short of identifying the officer saying the group does not want to trigger debate among the Nuer community over the killing of senior officers allied to Machar.

But SPLA-IO spokesman allied to Machar, Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel, denied that a senior member of their group was killed during the clash saying the minor clash occurred when a patrol team belonging to the SPLA-IO under Machar met the patrol team of General Simon Gatwech and that there was no any presence of a high-ranking officer.

“The truth has to be told. I am sure a General of ours could not be present in the place where the clashes took place; it was in their (Kit Gwang) area. So, we do not have any General who was killed,” Col. Lam said, according to Radio Tamazuj. “Those clashes started when our patrol team met with theirs and clashed and we repulsed them back to their bases in Magenis.”

He said General Simon Gatwech’s forces have sent a reinforcement to attack the SPLA-IO forces in an area near Magenis and as such their “forces are on standby.”

“My message is that all citizens of South Sudan want peace. All our forces are in their barracks and or cantonment sites. If the Kit Gwang people want power, they should not try to get it by force,” he said.

“They cannot change Dr. Riek Machar by force because that matter was settled in the peace agreement. And even if they wanted, they only have a presence in Magenis but the SPLM-IO of Dr. Machar is all over South Sudan. So, even if they wanted to fight and we moved all our forces against them, they would lose. So, let us unite as South Sudanese and bring peace for our citizens,” he added.