SPLM-IO diplomatic missions denounce Machar, pledge support for Gen. Gatwech’s faction

JUBA – Several diplomatic missions of South Sudan’s main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) have announced their discontent with the leadership of First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny and have declared their support to the Kitgwang faction led by General Simon Gatwech Dual.

Last week, General Gatwech announced following a gathering of top opposition commanders that he has replaced Machar who he accused of betraying the cause of the main armed opposition group by choosing to be a part of President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s regime which they accused of lacking will to implement the revitalized peace agreement.

In various statements, the SPLM-IO mission to Australia and the United States announced that they have ceased to remain under the leader of First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny and that they have decided to join the Kitgwang faction under General Simon Gatwech Dual.

SPLM-IO chapter in Australia said they had tried to resolve the differences between Machar and General Gatwech but that initiative could not be successful because Machar had refused to go further with it.

“On the 2^nd July 2021, we held two telephonic conferences with both leaders, we persuasively presented to them an initiative of reconciliation, however, the proposal was rejected by Dr. Machar Teny Dhurgon telling us that ‘reconciliation is not an optimal solution, citing that Gen. Gatwech Dual is no longer in the military ranks as he has been given a republican appointment as a Presidential Advisor for Peace’. In that instant, we were completely stunned and disappointed by his respond,” they said of Machar.

The statement added that “the current situation could have been avoided if Dr. Machar Teny would have listened to us.”

“In that regards, I urge all SPLM-IO diehard supporters and sympathisers to rally behind the interim Chairman and commander in Chief 1st Lt General Simon Gatwech Dual, Gen. Johnson Olony Thabu and all Comrades who join Kit-Gwang Declaration,” they added.