Odwar returns to Canada after gov’t failure to show up for talks with Gatwech

KHARTOUM – South Sudan opposition politician and former minister of mining Henry Odwar has returned to Canada, just weeks after visiting the Sudanese capital Khartoum where breakaway SPLM-IO faction Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by General Simon Gatwech Dual was awaiting government team for talks on the stalled security arrangements, the Sudans Post has been told.

Odwar is previously the SPLM-IO deputy chairman and was the minister of mining on the ticket of the SPLM-IO. In August, he and other senior members of the group decided to resign from following the infamous SPLM-IO Kitgwang declaration in which General Simon Gatwech and other top senior opposition commanders attempted to remove First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny as chairman and commander in chief of the SPLM/SPLA (IO).

He then declared his allegiance to Gen. Gatwech who immediately appointed him as the chairman of the SPLM-IO Political Wing, but Gen. Johnson Olony, Gen. Gatwech’s deputy, has previously expressed strong disapproval of politicians – including Odwar – joining the main armed opposition faction sparking an alleged tension with Gatwech.

In October, Gen. Gatwech met a South Sudan government delegation in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to discuss ways on which basis a talk on the stalled security arrangements could be conducted. The talks would then be indefinitely suspended as Sudan plunged into crisis following the late October ouster of the transitional government by the military.

Last month, Odwar returned to Khartoum from Canada where he was attending to a medical attention. The talk won’t yet take place as government delegation led by President Kiir’s security advisor Tut Gatluak didn’t show up sparking concerns among the Kitgwang generals over government intension.

Speaking to Sudans Post this morning, a senior opposition official who is informed of the return of Odwar to Canada said Odwar has returned to where he came from because it was unpredictable as to when the government delegation will show up and what was behind their intention to suddenly refuse to return to Khartoum for talks over the implementation of the security arrangements.

“Hon. Henry Odwar has returned to Canada because he cannot stay in Khartoum without doing anything. The government delegation has refused to return to Khartoum to engage us on the way forward regarding the security arrangements. General Gatwech has returned to Magenis and so Hon. Odwar has returned to Canada,” he added.

‘Kiir wants us to return to Juba one-by-one’

Earlier this week, SPLA-IO Kitgwang spokesman Brig. Gen. William Gatjiath Deng told Sudans Post that President Salva Kiir Mayardit was lobbying their senior military commanders with the purpose of making them return to Juba one-by-one rather than signing a deal with them that would see the opposition commanders given a number of seats in the government or the army.

General Gatjiath said the group has been worried by an ongoing lobbying by the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit for some senior opposition officials to defect from the Gatwech-led SPLA-IO faction which he said undermine the principle of good-faith which the parties agreed for in October.

“In October, we agreed with the government in front of the Sudanese government that none of the parties shall involve in lobbying to disintegrate the other party’s system, but this is what they are really doing. They have now contacted some senior commanders of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition for the purpose of going to Juba,” he said.

The senior opposition commander further said the government silence without returning to the opposition group in Khartoum is a ploy to further weaken the opposition group saying the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit is conspiring to take more senior opposition commanders before renegotiating with them.

“Now it is several months and we don’t know what we are doing. The government of Sudan has issues and we can’t blame them. But what is it that the government of South Sudan is doing to warrant such a silence. We are aware that the government of President Salva Kiir is not interested in a good peace, but want us to return to Juba one-by-one which is a none-starter,” the opposition officer further added.