“Situation under control” – Machar tells supporters after Gen. Gatwech’s defection

JUBA — South Sudan’s First Vice President and leader of the main armed Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) has assured his supporters that the situation in the group is under control, a day after former opposition army chief Gen. Gatwech Dual defected.

General Gatwech along with a handful opposition commander met in the border town of Magenis on Tuesday and announced their ouster of Machar. Gatwech was tasked to temporarily lead the movement and deputized by former sector commander General Johnson Olony Thabo.

In a communique extended to Sudans Post following a meeting of the SPLM-IO Political Bureau chaired by Machar, the South Sudanese First Vice President assured his supporters that the situation was under control despite defection of his powerful military chief.

“The Political Bureau assures the members of the SPLM/A (IO) and the people of South Sudan in general that the situatlon is under control,” the communique reads in part.

The statement further said the meeting “also discussed the constant harassment, arbltrary arrests and detentlon of the SPLM/A (10) personnel by ITGONU security organs, particularly In Juba and other towns in the country.”

It further “discussed and condemned, as a matter of principle, the arbltrary detentlon of some members of the People’s Coalition for Civil Action, as this group was exercising its constitutlonal right of freedom of speech, expression and association even though the SPLM/A (IO) does not necessarily agree with the content of their message.”

“In light of this, the Political Bureau demands the immediate release of these detainees,” the communique stressed, adding that meeting “discussed the blatant violation of the power-sharlng agreements in the Administrative Areas.”