Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) has yielded to a dialogue with the Kit Gwang faction led by Simon Gatwech Dual days after the two armies were locked in deadly clashes at Magenis, Upper Nile.
The press release from the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) shows that the Director of Information and Public Relations in the office of the First Vice President Dr Riek Machar has confirmed the party’s willingness to dialogue with the Kit Gwang faction.
“Mr Puok Both, the acting press secretary in the office of the First Vice President confirmed that the SPLM-IO has reiterated calls for dialogue with the Kit Gwang group days after fresh clashes were reported in Magenis area of Upper Nile State,” read the statement from CEPO.
“He stated that the SPLM/A-IO leadership in Juba is committed to the cessation of hostilities agreement and ready to dialogue with their rival group.”
The City Review contacted Puok Both Baluang, the Spokesperson in the office of the First Vice President Dr Riek Machar to corroborate the information. But Mr Baluang played it down saying the SPLM/A-IO had not sanctioned a dialogue with the splinter group. However, it could consider it after Kit Gwang has met the precondition: stopping attacks on its troops in Upper Nile.
“You know we did not accept any dialogue because there is no dialogue initiated but we call upon them to cease attacking our forces in northern Upper Nile and we address the differences. We are saying from the opposition that all the problems of South Sudan can be addressed through dialogue not through war,” Baluang said.
“There has been an attack on our forces for almost a week now, [and] for us it is very important to address any differences. If they decided to break away from the SPLM-IO, we have no problem with that but they should refrain from attacking our forces because the forces of SPLM-IO are many, but we remain in self-defence. We are urging them not to create any disturbance in the state because the people of that area have suffered enough from conflict and also the suffering from the devastating floods.”
Appeal to Kit Gwang The Executive Director of CEPO, Edmund Yakani, urged the Kit Gwang declaration’s leadership to urgently take positive strides towards dialogue.
“CEPO is urging Kit Gwang group to urgently respond to the dialogue. It is only dialogue that can bring a solution to their political difference,” the statement continued.
“The fighting between SPLA-IO Kit Gwang and the First Vice President’s Factions is a senseless and clear demonstration of bad political attitudes of controlling public office through loss of human blood.” Yakani called on President Salva Kiir Mayardit to use the faith-based organisation to facilitate dialogue between the two rival factions.
He appealed to the leader of the Kit Gwang faction Simon Gatwech, the First Vice President Dr Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir to accept the faith-based organisations as mediators without preconditions.
“Your Excellency, the President, accept our appeal for you to urge our faith-based leaders to facilitate dialogue among the conflicting factions of SPLA-IO,” he continued.
Yakani also called on the IGAD Special Envoy to South Sudan and the IGAD’s Executive Secretary to give way for faith-based organizations to take the lead in facilitating the dialogue between the aforementioned factions of SPLM/A-IO.
He concluded by appealing to leaders of the conflicting factions to refrain from further attacks in honour of the ceasefire agreement 2017 by observing a ceasefire.
“The conflicting (factions) of SPLM/A-IO should embrace dialogue than using a military approach that shows nothing except immaturity or confused political behaviours. Act in a manner of claiming loss of human lives and property for the sake of having political power is totally unaccepted act,” he added.
On the same note, the former minister for irrigation and water sources, Mabior Garang de Mabior, welcomed the move calling it the only gift for the New Year to civilians.
“If the reports circulating on social media are true and the FVP Dr Riek Machar has accepted dialogue with the SPLM-IO (Kit Gwang), to resolve the split in the movement through peaceful means, it may be the best New Year’s gift to our civil population. Real peace may soon be in a sigh,” he said in his Facebook post.
“War will never resolve anything, dialogue is the only way. We acknowledge and salute the courage it took for the FVP to make this bold decision. This is an important step and could be the beginning of trust-building among the parties to the split in the SPLM-IO and ultimately lead to the honest implementation of the peace agreement.”
Mabior urged leaders to encourage means of bolstering the peace process in the New Year 2022. Call for dialogue Mabior last week urged President Kiir to intervene and devise possible means of ending the conflict between the rival factions of SPLM/A-IO by Dr Riek Machar and Simon Gatwech.
“A humble appeal to the President of the Republic of South Sudan, fellow South Sudanese, join me in this humble call on President Salva Kiir to intervene in the violent split within the SPLM-IO, which threatens to unravel the little semblance of an Agreement we have in our nascent Republic,” he said in his Facebook post.
“There is an opportunity to resolve this split peacefully. This opportunity comes in the form of the Communiqué of the 73rd Extraordinary Session of the IGAD Council of Ministers. The Communiqué calls -among other things-for the SPLM-IO ‘to put their house in order’’.
He said that the existent conflict between the Kit Gwang faction and SPLM/A-IO could fuel communal violence warning that it might engulf the whole country if not contained. Clashes won’t derail peace
Late last month, the First Vice President said that the recent fighting between his forces and those of Simon Gatwech that stemmed from SPLM/A-IO would not sabotage the implementation of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).
This was after the Kit Gwang faction claimed to have won over Machar’s forces and mentioned that they had killed five Generals from Machar’s forces and seized military power including; a military vehicle, one 14.5 machine gun, two recoils, one BM-12, one Zuu-23, two 82MM, six 12.7, 34 PKM and AK-47.
In an interview with the City Review, the SPLA-IO Spokesperson Lam Paul said that they were committed to the peace agreement and thus could not respond to attacks in self-defence.
“This continued violence against the SPLA-IO is a clear declaration of war against the people’s movement during the time when every suffering South Sudanese wants peace,” said Col. Lam.
“The SPLA-IO calls on the South Sudanese citizens to remain calm, as this aggression will not derail the ongoing implementation of the Security Arrangement in particular and the R-ARCSS in general.”
“This continued violence against the SPLA-IO is a clear declaration of war against the people’s movement during the time when every suffering South Sudanese wants peace,” said Col. Lam.
“The SPLA-IO calls on the South Sudanese citizens to remain calm, as this aggression will not derail the ongoing implementation of the Security Arrangement in particular and the R-ARCSS in general.”
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