South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The leader of the breakaway faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) Kitwang, Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual, is set to return to Juba after signing a peace deal with the government in Port Sudan.
The advance military team of the SPLM-IO-Kitgwang faction arrived in Juba on Wednesday to prepare the ground for the arrival of their leader.
“The National Security Service informs all media houses and the general public on the arrival of Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual’s advance military team to Juba City on Wednesday),” said a statement issued by the Internal Security Bureau of the National Security Services on Wednesday.
“This step emanated after his unresolved acceptance of the presidential pardon announced earlier by the office of the President of the Republic of South Sudan,” it disclosed.
It noted that Gen. Akec Tong Aleu, the Director General of the Internal Security Bureau persuaded Gen. Gatwech to return to Juba after reaching a deal with him in Sudan.
“Following last year’s presidential pardon, the military commander unwaveringly extended his inclination to call, and as the mandate of the National Security Service, the ISB leadership under Gen. Akec Tong Aleu undertook the lead negotiation that has resulted in the current arrival of the advance team,” it said.
The NSS said that supplementary modalities for the final arrival of Gen. Gatwech will be arranged, adding that the reintegration process of SPLA-IO Kitgwang soldiers will commence after the former rebel commander has arrived in Juba.
The spy agency reiterated its commitment to the protection of territorial integrity, national interest, and fostering peace and security.
In January 2022, the SPLA-IO Kitgwang faction signed a peace agreement in Khartoum with the government.
The Kitgwang faction, however, became disillusioned months after the peace deal and blamed the government for not implementing it.
Gatwech and his former deputy Johnson Olony later fell out, with the former firing the latter, and their forces clashing several times. Olony has since returned to Juba and was recently appointed Assistant Chief of Defense for Disarmament and Demobilization in the South Sudan People’s Defense Force.
