General Stephen Buay urges ‘abandoned’ SPLM-IO commanders to join him

JUBA – South Sudan’s former senior army commander General Stephen Buay Rolnyang is urging opposition SPLM-IO commanders whom he said have been abandoned by the senior leadership of the movement in the bush to join him in his upcoming war against the regime in the country.

Currently, top opposition commanders of the main armed opposition group, SPLM-IO, are not happy with the group’s leader, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, who was appointed as First Vice President in February 2020 as part of the revitalized peace agreement signed by him and President Salva Kiir Mayardit in 2018 in Addis Ababa.

This is because of the ongoing delay in the implementation of the security arrangements, the most important provision of the deal that was meant to silent the seven-year-old conflict in the world’s youngest country.

Speaking to Sudans Post in an interview on Thursday, General Buay who said on Monday that he has moved into unidentified location in South Sudan said he is planning to meet opposition commanders anytime for a possible alliance against the regime in Juba.

“We all know that most of the SPLA-IO commanders have been abandoned by the top leadership of the movement,” Buay said. “This is because they know what is obvious that this peace agreement is meant to buy time before the government breaks it.”

The opposition defense secretary continued: “So, I will seek to meet them to urge them to join the fight against the government in Juba to end injustice and unlawful clinging to power at the expense of the people of South Sudan.”