{"id":45334,"date":"2023-10-10T16:24:23","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T16:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/spla-io-generals-gather-in-bentiu-to-counteract-defection-of-top-commander"},"modified":"2023-10-10T17:58:14","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T17:58:14","slug":"spla-io-generals-gather-in-bentiu-to-counteract-defection-of-top-commander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/spla-io-generals-gather-in-bentiu-to-counteract-defection-of-top-commander","title":{"rendered":"SPLA-IO generals gather in Bentiu to counteract defection of top commander"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Sudan. <\/strong><\/span><b> <\/b> Senior opposition military officers belonging to South Sudan\u2019s main armed opposition SPLA-IO gathered on Monday in Unity State\u2019s capital Bentiu and Leer County to reaffirm their support for First Vice President Riek Machar, the group\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n<p>This comes after the defection of five senior SPLA-IO commanders led by the group\u2019s former sector two head, Gen. Simon Maguek Gai, to the ruling SPLM faction and South Sudan People\u2019s Defense Forces (SSPDF) under President Salva Kiir Mayardit in Juba on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting in Dingding was chaired by SPLA-IO Sector Two Commander Maj. Gen. George Gatthouy Thak and Division 4A commander General Turuk Khor Kuai, while the meeting in Leer\u2019s Muom cantonment areas was charged by the groups division 4B commander Maj. Gen. Stephens Gatgok Khor Riaka.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement following the meeting, SPLA-IO sector spokesman Major Kerbino Yai Pazale said that the group\u2019s commanders in Unity State held two separate meetings, one in Dingding and the other at Muom Payam, another cantonment site for the SPLA-IO, to reaffirm their loyalty to the SPLA-IO.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe outcome of the two separate consultation meetings resulted in the disowning of the defection of Lt. Gen. Simon Maguek. The men who were in the battlefield expressed their attitude that the strong and powerful SPLA-IO as a people\u2019s movement is still in the right direction. Maguek has lost ground forces in Unity state Bentiu,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSimon Maguek is a former sector two commander three years ago. The same is true of Maj. Gen. Samuel Dok Wanjang, who was is former 4th (B) commander four years ago. Even now, their bodyguards have reported themselves into our SPLA IO different garrisons respectively,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n<p>The statement further reiterated the SPLA-IO\u2019s commitment to the implementation of South Sudan\u2019s revitalized peace agreement signed by their leader Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir in September 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sector two SPLA-IO is supporting peace and harmony in South Sudan and all of the people of Unity state Bentiu,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sector two SPLA-IO shall not and will never attempt to take you back to a tragic situation or war, because the defection of Simon Maguek does not make division between us. The same is true of the SSPDF, which will never take you back into mayhem,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\">South-Sudan<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Sudan. Senior opposition military officers belonging to South Sudan\u2019s main armed opposition SPLA-IO gathered on Monday in Unity State\u2019s capital Bentiu and Leer County to reaffirm their support for First Vice President Riek Machar, the group\u2019s leader. This comes after the defection of five senior SPLA-IO commanders led by the group\u2019s former sector [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":45332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12,293],"tags":[234,265,233],"class_list":["post-45334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","category-to-homepage","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-sudan","tag-south-sudan"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SPLA-IO generals gather in Bentiu to counteract defection of top commander - South Sudan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Senior opposition military officers belonging to South Sudan\u2019s main armed opposition SPLA-IO gathered on Monday ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/spla-io-generals-gather-in-bentiu-to-counteract-defection-of-top-commander\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SPLA-IO generals gather in Bentiu to counteract defection of top commander\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Senior opposition military officers belonging to South Sudan\u2019s main armed opposition SPLA-IO gathered on Monday ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/spla-io-generals-gather-in-bentiu-to-counteract-defection-of-top-commander\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Sudan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-10T16:24:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-10T17:58:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/sites\/32\/2023\/10\/sm_1696947289.175054.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"461\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/spla-io-generals-gather-in-bentiu-to-counteract-defection-of-top-commander#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/spla-io-generals-gather-in-bentiu-to-counteract-defection-of-top-commander\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"SPLA-IO generals gather in Bentiu to counteract defection of top commander\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-10T16:24:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-10T17:58:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/spla-io-generals-gather-in-bentiu-to-counteract-defection-of-top-commander\"},\"wordCount\":411,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/spla-io-generals-gather-in-bentiu-to-counteract-defection-of-top-commander#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/sites\/32\/2023\/10\/sm_1696947289.175054.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Sudan\",\"South-Sudan\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/spla-io-generals-gather-in-bentiu-to-counteract-defection-of-top-commander#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/spla-io-generals-gather-in-bentiu-to-counteract-defection-of-top-commander\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-sudan\/all-news\/spla-io-generals-gather-in-bentiu-to-counteract-defection-of-top-commander\",\"name\":\"SPLA-IO generals gather in Bentiu to counteract defection of top commander - 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