Juba, South Sudan
June 8, 2022 — The advance team of the SPLM/A-IO Kit-Gwang faction led by the senior opposition commander, General Simon Gatwech Dual, is worried that the implementation of the peace agreement is not going anywhere yet their situation is worsening in the capital, Juba.
Speaking to the media yesterday morning, Maj. Gen. Sebit Kong Kun, a leading member of the SPLM/A-IO Kit-Gwang faction complained that there is no any progress in the implementation of the peace agreement signed with President Salva Kiir.
In fact, Gen. Koang confirms that the peace agreement has expired and the other peace partner has disappeared.
“The peace agreement had expired on 16 April 2022… It is unfortunate that after we arrived in Juba as the advance team, the other side which signed the agreement has disappeared,” Gen. Kun said. “We have spent five months now in Juba and nobody met us from the government side.”, Gen. Kong told reporters.
On 16 February, a delegation of 31 military officers of the SPLM/A-IO Kit-Gwang faction arrived in Juba to follow up on the implementation of the Khartoum Peace Agreement that was signed in early January 2022 between their faction and SPLM-IG.
The peace agreement between President Salva Kiir’s group and the SPLM/A-IO Kit-Gwang faction led by General Simon Gatwech negotiated for the integration of Kit-Gwang forces into the national army, the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) and that was to be completed within three months.
General Simon Gatwech, the head of the group, and General Johnson Olony, commander of the Agwelek forces and the deputy commander of the SPLM/A-IO Kit-Gwang faction, signed two separate agreements with Kiir’s faction.
The agreements guarantees the implementation of the security arrangements, a permanent ceasefire, grants the Kit-Gwang faction amnesty, and reintegration of the breakaway SPLA-IO forces into the SSPDF; however, none of that has been implemented so far.
He said the government side was represented by the Presidential Advisor on National Security Affairs Tut Gatluak, Gen. Akol Koor Kuch, Director-General of the Internal Security Bureau, and Gen. Marshal Stephen, the Chief of Military Intelligence.
According to General Kong, the advance team could not meet President Salva Kiir Mayardit to discuss delays in the implementation of the peace agreement.
In response, Gen. Gatwech wrote to Sudan and South Sudan government to send back their advance team to Khartoum but the two governments are yet to respond.
“On 16 April, General Simon Gatwech wrote a letter to the two governments of Sudan and South Sudan to send back the advance team to Khartoum. Until now, there is no response from both governments,” he revealed
“We came to Juba for confidence building, but until now there is no step forward.”, Gen. Kong lamented.
The advance team member complained about harsh living conditions in Juba, saying they live in Juba like prisoners of war.
“Our situations and the situations of our families are very bad, we even don’t have money to buy soap or scratch cards,” he said.
General Kun reiterated their commitment to the peace process in the country, calling on the South Sudan government and the Sudanese mediators to transport them back to the SPLM/A-IO Kit-Gwang faction base in Upper Nile State.
