Gatwech recalls advance team from Juba over stalled peace implementation

JUBA – South Sudan main armed opposition commander General Simon Gatwech Dual has recalled a team of senior opposition commanders allied to him to return to Magenis from South Sudan’s capital Juba for consultations over the stalemate in the implementation of the Khartoum peace agreement.

General Gatwech who was the SPLA-Io military chief abandoned Machar’s main armed opposition Sudan people’s Liberation Army  in Opposition (SPLA-IO) in August last year to form a faction of his own sparking opposition infighting that almost returned the country to civil war.

In January, he signed a peace agreement with President Salva Kiir Mayardit providing for integration of his forces into South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) within three months’ time.

In late January, Gatwech sent a team of senior opposition commanders to Juba to oversee the implementation of the agreement which should begin with formation of coordination offices for fighters’ registration in Bor, the capital of Jonglei state, and Malakal, the capital of Upper Nile state.

However, more than three months into the signing of the agreement, those offices have not been established raising questions about President Kiir’s commitment to the implementation of the peace deal.

Speaking to Sudans Post this morning, a senior opposition diplomat allied to General Simon Gatwech Dual in the Sudanese capital Khartoum said the opposition commander has directed his high-level advance team to return to Khartoum for consultations on the stalled peace implementation.

“This is to form the media that General Simon Gatwech Dual has recalled the advance team from Juba for consultation because the entire implementation of the Khartoum peace agreement is not being implemented and is stalled,” the diplomat who requested not to be named said from the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

“This step made by the chairman does not mean that we are not for peace, but because the contract signed in the form of a peace agreement is not being implemented as agreed by the side of President Salva Kiir Mayardit in Juba,” he added.