Gatwech welcomes IGAD decision to send investigators to Magenis, reiterates commitment to peace

JUBA – South Sudan’s main armed opposition commander and chairman of the holdout Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A-IO) faction, General Simon Gatwech Dual, has welcomed a decision by the regional bloc, IGAD, to send a team of investigators to Magenis and Kitgwang, all controlled by General Simon Gatwech’s forces, to find out the cause of the recent SPLA-IO infighting.

According to the IGAD Special Envoy Ismail Wais, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) which mediated the revitalized peace agreement in 2018 has formed a team set to be dispatched to Magenis to investigate the ongoing split within the main armed opposition group.

Wais said during an interview with the Juba-based Radio Miraya that they IGAD now has “all the clearance from the government of Sudan and as well as the Republic of South Sudan that in the next few days or weeks, we will be able to send a delegation to Magenis or that area to find out what really happened on the ground.”

In a statement extended to Sudans Post this evening, Gen. Gatwech’s press secretary James Kalany Mamuon said the main armed opposition action welcomes the decision by the regional block and said the upcoming visit will help in attacks he said were being launched by SPLA-IO forces loyal to First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny.

“The SPLM/SPLA-IO welcomes the decision of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to visit Magenis,” Kalany said in the statement he extended to Sudans Post this evening.

“We call upon the IGAD to come to Magenis and acquaint themselves with the general situation in the area. We believe that their visit will help to stop the frequent attacks that are being launched by Riek Machar’s forces at our bases,” he added in the statement.

The senior opposition official further reiterated his group’s “full adherence to the implementation of R-ARCSS in letter and spirit, as the only way to attain peace in South Sudan.”