Africa-Press – South-Sudan. A South Sudan main armed opposition official who has declared his defection from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny to the Kitgwang faction led by General Simon Gatwech Dual has accused the defense minister and SPLM-IO Chairperson of National Committee for Security and Defense Angelina Teny of being used by President Salva Kiir to dismantle the main armed opposition group.
SPLM-IO’s advisor for political affairs and former Unity state minister of information and communication Andrew Kuong yesterday declared his defection to General Simon Gatwech Dual accusing Machar of surrendering the main armed opposition group to the regime of President Salva Kiir Mayardit to seek for position claiming that 90% of all the members of are against Machar’s leadership which he has no potential of changing the regime in Juba.
In the statement declaring his defection, the senior opposition official accused the minister of defense of being used by the government of President Salva Kiir to derail the implementation of the security arrangements provided for in the revitalized peace agreement which could see the country establish a professional national army whose ranks are drawn from the government forces and their opposition counterpart as part of effort to achieve peace and stability in the country.
“Angelina Thomas, is becoming an agent used by the regime to dismantle SPLM/A-IO, appointed and recruited her the minister of Defense in order to water down the security arrangement and the graduation of what should become the new national army of the South Sudan, whereby all 64 tribes should have been represented,” he alleged.
In early August, General Simon Gatwech Dual announced that he has removed Machar as chairman and commander in chief of the SPLM-IO following a three-gathering of top opposition commanders and had since assume powers of the SPLM-IO chairman and commander in chief and later on accused Machar of attempting to kill him when opposition forces allied to Machar attacked Magenis on August 7, 2021, in which over 30 people perished including senior opposition commanders allied to Machar.
Andrew Kuong claimed that First Vice President Machar had attempted to kill General Simon Gatwech Dual, General Johnson Olony and General Thomas Mabor Dhol in order to silence the group purposely to derail the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement and return the world’s youngest country to the devastating civil war.
“The recent attack of Magenis was a plan to eliminate and to kill Lt. Gen Simon Gatwech Dual, Gen. Thomas Mabior Dhol and Lt. Gen. Johnson Olony, to silence the Kitgwang declaration a purpose of dismantling IO forces, in order to derail the implementation of the security arrangement, dismantling cantonments of IO forces all over the South Sudan and use proxy war against the SPLM-IO forces to finish up the remaining forces that still have hope in different fields, around 3 Equatoria states, western Bahr el Ghazal, and Upper Nile,” he added.
