Gen. Gatwech promotes ex-SPLM-IO Egypt envoy to major-general

JUBA – South Sudan opposition commander and de facto leader of the main armed Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) General Simon Gatwech Dual has promoted former SPLM-IO Country Representative to the Arab Republic of Egypt, Amb. Gatkuoth Biel Nyang, from the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel to the rank of Major General.

Speaking to Sudans Post this evening, Gatkuoth said he was promoted last week along with a number of opposition officers by General Simon Gatwech and welcomed his promotion saying his promotion by the former SPLA-IO military chief of staff is recognition of his performance as the top SPLM-IO diplomat to Egypt from 2016.

“First of all I was promoted last week by the Interim Chairman and Commander in Chief of the SPLM/SPLA (IO) Lt. Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual. I was promoted with other officers and I welcome the decision of the interim chairman and commander in chief of the SPLM/SPLA (IO) to promote me to this rank,” Gatkuoth said from the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

“I can say that this is a recognition of the great role that I did during my time as SPLM-IO Country Representative to Egypt and it is an evidence that the SPLM-IO will not let down all its members who are doing credible work day and night to make sure that the movement is connect with the region and the world,” he added.

Gatkuoth was a police officer in the South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS) prior to the outbreak of the conflict in Juba in December 2013. He previously served in the Sudanese police force before the independent of South Sudan following graduation from a Sudanese police academy in Sudan.

Gatkuoth who hails from Jonglei and married also served, before the outbreak of violence in December 2013, as deputy chief of security for the SPLM General Secretariat. He fled the capital Juba to join the then emerging rebel SPLM-IO.

He holds a master of law at the Egyptian University of Ains Shams. He was appointed as SPLM-IO Country Representative by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny in 2016 following two years of service as the chairman of the SPLM-IO Chapter in Egypt, before returning to Sudan following the signing of the revitalized peace agreement in 2018.