Five senior opposition military officers defect to SSPDF

Maj. Gen. Tawan Simon Jok, the leading figure of the defected group [Photo: Awan Achiek]

By Awan Achiek

Five senior military Generals from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO) and the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) defected to the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) on Monday.

Maj. Gen Tawan Simon Jok, the head of the group of opposition military officers told The Dawn that the defectors include 1,500 soldiers and also five senior politicians.

 “I have decided to defect from SSOA to join SPLM and SSPDF. I have come with some of the generals,” Simon said.

Simon is the former Secretary General of the National Democratic Movement led by veteran politician Lam Akol Ajawin.

 Maj. Gen Gattuor Both Jok, Maj. Gen Gatdiet Majork and Brig. Gatmai Both Khor are among the high ranking military officers who defected to the SSPDF.

“We are going to be under the umbrella of Lt. Gen Simon Maguek Gai and we are defecting from both SSOA and SPLA-IO to SSPDF,” Simon said.

Simon said he resigned from NDM in April 2021 and later joined the South Sudan Liberation Movement led by Bapim Manytuil.

He said South Sudan Liberation Movement currently has 6,000 soldiers stationed in Juba.

“Our total is about 1,500 officers, some of us are from Unity State in Bentiu and I confirm 6,000 soldiers are in Juba and the majority is waiting for a declaration to join me,” Simon said.

He said that they have decided to abandon opposition political parties because they have become family enterprises.

“We have come to realize that those opposition parties are family enterprises, they are not capable of becoming leading parties in the country and we have witnessed a lot of failure from them,” Simon said.