SPLM-IO deputy chairman Henry Odwar confirms joining General Gatwech’s faction

JUBA – South Sudan’s former minister of mining Henry Dilang Odwar who resigned in a brief letter to President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Wednesday has this morning confirmed the authenticity of a statement in which he and other senior members of the SPLM-IO declared their support for the infamous Kitgwang declaration.

Last week, top opposition military commanders gathered at Kitgwang, Magenis, in Northern Upper Nile state announcing the ouster of Machar as the leader of the main armed opposition group in what would be known to the public as ‘Kitgwang Declaration’.

General Simon Gatwech was named the interim chairman and commander in chief of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/SPLA (IO). General Johnson Olony Thabo now serves as the interim deputy chairman and commander in chief.

On Wednesday afternoon, Odwar resigned in a letter obtained by Sudans Post from his position as minister of mining in the revitalized unity government he was appointed to on the ticket of the SPLM-IO.

Later on, a statement bearing his signature appeared on social media making public his support for the Kitgwang Declaration and in a bid to confirm the authenticity of that letter, Sudans Post contacted the former minister.

“This document in regards to me and those senior [members] of the [SPLM-IO] is true and authentic. I did talk about support to the SPLM-IO high-ranking officers in Kitgwang and Magenis and I also questioned very much the way Riek [Machar] has been running the movement,” he told Sudans Post on phone from Canada.

He accused Machar of surrendering to President Salva Kiir’s regime as a partner saying the SPLM-IO under him has ceased to be an effective opposition movement that the people of South Sudan should rely on for change.

“Instead of being an opposition movement, he has now surrendered to become a partner with Salva Kiir in the R-TGONU (Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity],” the powerful opposition politician said.

“So, no wonder why the implementation of the provisions of the agreement is not going as were inked in the agreement,” he added.

Odwar further said he and other top opposition officials who wrote the statement with him were in a process to start how to reorganize the main armed opposition group to effect change in the world’s youngest country.

“So, I took it myself that I will not continue a part of the government [and] I already submitted my resignation and now we are in the process of starting a better way for a more peaceful South Sudan that will lead to a more cohesion of all the citizens for a prosperous country,” he added.