Gatwech names military chief, restructures army command

JUBA – South Sudan opposition commander and leader of the breakaway SPLA-IO Kitgwang faction Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual has unveiled a military command for his group, appointing former governor of the defunct Northern Liech State, Gen. Laraka Machar Turoal, as the military chief of staff, according to an order issued today.

The order extended to Sudans Post cited General Gatwech’s powers conferred upon him by the SPLA-IO Kitgwang structural document and the outcome of the July 2022 high-level meeting in which Gatwech was given more powers than he initially has.

“Reference to the resolution of SPLM/A (IO) Kitgwang leadership consultative meeting and conference of July 18, 2022, and based on the structural document of the SPLM/A (IO), I, Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual, do hereby temporarily appoints 1st Gen. Karan’s Machar Turoal as Chief of General Staff of SPLA-IO Kitgwang effective from September 17, 2022,” the order reads in part.

In a separate order, Gen. Gatwech also unveiled a new army command structure appointing Gen. William Deng Malual as the deputy chief of staff for administration, Gen. James Riak Ruai as deputy chief of staff for operations, Gen. Machar Puoch Nhial as the inspector general of the military, and Gen. Joseph Wuor Puok as deputy chief of staff for logistics.

Gatwech also appointed Gen. Manyang Kerlual Nyinyar, the singer turned rebel military commander, as deputy chief of staff for moral orientation, Gen. Mohamed William Taban as deputy chief of staff for training, and Gen. Peter Gatluak Thoan as deputy chief of staff for military justice.

The system overhaul in the holdout SPLM-IO holdout faction comes as Gatwech and Gen. Johnson Olony, his former deputy, trades accusation over escalation of military operations ion Upper Nile State where fighting has displaced thousands of civilians.

A group of armed civilians who joined the Upper Nile conflict on the side of Gatwech also attacked an IDP camp in Panyikang County killing at least seventeen people, sparking local and international calls for government intervention to bring to an end the violence once and for all.