Khartoum has moral duty to support South Sudan’s peace process, says Gatwech
September 15, 2022 (JUBA) – Neighbouring Sudan has the moral duty to support the peace process in South Sudan having mediated and brokered previous peace agreements, the leader of a break-away faction of South Sudan’s armed opposition (SPLM-IO) said.
Simon Gatwech Dual, in Thursday’s interview with Sudan Tribune, said Khartoum’s efforts in supporting the peace process will only end when all the warring parties and the hold-out groups agree to work together and end violence.
“You can have President Salva Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar sit together in Juba and pretend to be working together. That is not true. These people were in the same government from 2005 to 2013, but when they disagreed, the country went down in flames. They were together in 2015, but when they could not agree on how to unify the forces, they took the country back to war in 2016,” explained Gatwech.
He added, “Some people like Thomas Cirillo, Pagan Amum, Paul Malong and others are now not in Juba. We are also not in Juba because the forces in Juba are not the national army. They are forces loyal to individual leaders and that is why when politicians disagree on policy matters, the soldiers take sides and the country goes into war”.
Gatwech said unification of all the forces would boost the peace process in South Sudan.
He said Sudan, a guarantor of the 2018 peace deal, should tell President Kiir and Machar to stop recruiting from their forces and attacking their positions in the Upper Nile region.
“These days, what they are doing is actually not implementation of the peace agreement which we have signed with them. They are not implementing the peace agreement which is keeping Riek in Juba. The peace agreement they are talking about is the distribution of positions of the government and leaving out the root causes of the conflict. They are talking and recruiting people to go with them. Riek is recruiting and Salva Kiir is doing the same. That is not the implementation of the peace agreement,” explained Gatwech.
He added, “That is a preparation for another war. Now, there are still forces with officers maintaining separate command and reporting lines. Sudan should intervene in this issue and talk to them [Kiir and Machar] to stop recruitment and implement the agreement”.
Sudan, the current chair of the regional bloc (IGAD), separately mediated the Kitgwang agreement between Gatwech’s faction and the government in Juba in January 2022.
The deal, signed by Kiir’s security advisor Tut Gatluak Manime, the Director-General of the national security’s Internal Security Bureau, Akol Koor and military Intelligence Director General, Stephen Marshal on behalf of the Juba government, gave Gatwech and his ex-deputy Johnson Olony an opportunity to return to Juba for its implementation.
The agreement further calls for the integration of the forces under Gatwech and the Olony-led Agwelek forces into the South Sudanese People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF).
A team representing Olony and Gatwech was dispatched to Juba to coordinate and oversee the implementation of the terms of the agreement. The group, has, however not moved out of the South Sudan capital since arrival, confined to the parameters of the city and unable to return or move ahead with the implementation of the peace process.
Also, attempts by Gatwech and Olony to recall their groups have been unsuccessful, with the Juba government giving different reasons, including logistical challenges.
(ST)