South Sudanese rebel defector vows not to respect peace deal
August 20, 2015 (JUBA) – A South Sudanese rebel defector announced on Thursday he would not respect any agreement which the government of president Salva Kiir and his former deputy in the ruling (SPLM) party and government, Riek Machar, would sign.
The rebel official further categorically stated that he would not abide by a peace deal signed by Machar, saying it left president Kiir to remain as the leader despite massacres he committed in December 2013.
“That agreement will not hold. We will not respect it. It does not represent the interest of the people of South Sudan, not even near what caused this war. It is a sell-out and betrayal agreement”, Gatkuoth told Sudan Tribune during an exclusive interview on Thursday.
The former top rebel commander allied to Machar before breaking away to form a separate camp, argued that the war was not about position of the former vice president but rather about the cause of the war, asserting members of his ethnic Nuer were brutally murdered in Juba in 2013.
“We did not pick arms because Riek Machar was removed from the government. There was a clear reason. The government killed innocent civilians who were not part of the power struggle between Salva Kiir and Riek. What did they do for them to be killed? This is the question we are seeking answers and answers to these questions cannot be buried with the signing of a betrayal agreement,” he said.
“If Riek and his wife want to return to Juba so that they become part of the same government which killed its own citizens and continue to claim their legitimacy, then we are not party to that agreement. He and Taban Deng Gai should return but we are not going with them and that agreement will not work,” he warned.
He however expressed their commitment and readiness to working for peace but on the condition that it will be a peace agreement that addresses the root causes of the conflict and involve all the key players and stakeholders.
“Our people, the people of South Sudan are looking for a durable peace. They want a peace that addresses the root causes, not the one that returns the country to the status quo,” he stressed.
(ST)