Gen. Gatwech’s allies dismisses SPLM-IO assertion that peace deal on verge of collapse

JUBA – Political allies of holdout SPLM-IO factional leader General Simon Gatwech Dual have dismissed – as ‘mischief’ – assertions by top opposition officials allied to First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny that the revitalized peace agreement signed to end a deadly civil war in September 2018 is on the verge of collapse.

Last week, dozens of SPLM-IO members of parliament allied to Machar warned during a visit to the Sudanese capital Khartoum that the revitalized peace agreement was on the verge of collapse over delays by the unity government under President Salva Kiir Mayardit to implement the security arrangements provided for in the agreement.

“The security arrangements dossier is stalling and the forces have been in training camps for two years without being graduated. We appeal to the guarantors, particularly Sudan which is the IGAD chair, to intervene. If the peace agreement is not implemented fully, there will be problems,” head of the SPLM-IO parliamentary delegation said in Khartoum last week.

“Under the peace agreement, the government was supposed to fund the security arrangements by supporting the forces. Unfortunately, no support is being provided to the forces in training camps,” Kuong added.

However, Mabior Garang De Mabior, the former SPLM-IO Chairperson of National Committee for Information and Public relations who is now allied to General Simon Gatwech Dual dismissed the assertion of peace collapse as mischief saying the opposition group in Juba under Machar has only been busy distributing positions among themselves.

“The Defunct National Committee for Information and Public Relations would like to inform our civilian population that the Agreement is not on the verge of collapse. This is mischief! What is happening is that the lies of the IO-Juba are beginning to catch up to them. The only thing they have achieved to date has been distribution of government jobs,” he said in a statement seen by Sudans Post.

“The security arrangements have failed to be implemented because of the gulf of mistrust created when the opposition – which has trained officers – appointed civilians posing as Generals to the Joint Defense Board (JDB). Generals who have not even done basic military training. This led to the politicization of the security arrangements,” he added.

He said members of the Joint Defense Board have “weaponized the security arrangements to turn the cantonment centers into recruitment centers to launch a new war. This was obvious to the veteran Generals of the regime. The genuine training and amalgamation of forces to constitute a bona fide national army cannot be done within eight months.”

“The Kit Gwang Declaration is not for fighting a war for the regime change agenda of individual politicians. The Kit Gwang Declaration represents the honest implementation of security arrangements, which will culminate in a single army reflective of our national diversity. There is no hidden agenda of regime change. What we are after is fundamental change in our society.”