Juba, South Sudan
January 19, 2022—The SPLM/A-In-Opposition downplays the significance of the peace deal signed between the SPLM-IG and SPLM/A-IO breakaway faction of Kitgwang in Khartoum on Sunday.
In a statement seen by Nyamilepedia, the SPLA-IO military spokesman, Col. Lam Paul Gabriel said what was signed by the two parties on Sunday in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, was not an agreement and it can hardly be viewed as peace deal.
Col. Gabriel argued that a peace agreement is always signed between waring parties but what happened on Sunday was the case between Kitgwang and SPLM-IG and as such it shouldn’t be dubbed as a “peace agreement”.
The senior opposition spokesperson doubts the legality of SPLM-IG-Kigwang agreement, saying they have never been engaged in war with each others long enough to warrant a cease-fire deal.
Col. Gabriel argues that the main SPLA-IO group should be part and parcel of the deal since it’s the party at war with Kitgwang faction.
” The SPLA-IO has been keenly monitoring the agreement and what was signed cannot be called the peace agreement”, Col. Gabriel said in a statement obtained by Nyamilepedia.
” That is a clear indication of a way of paying Kitgwang for joining the SSPDF, which is a defection”, Col. Gabriel further added.
On Sunday, the SPLM-IG of President Salva Kiir reached a deal in Khartoum, Sudan with the SPLA-IO splitter group of Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual.
The agreement was said to be aimed at ending the five-month conflict in Upper Nile State between the breakaway faction of Kitgwang and the main SPLA-IO group led by FVP Dr. Riek Machar.
