SPLA-IO rubbishes Kit Gwang declaration
South Sudan’s main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-IO (SPLM/A-IO) has rubbished the Kit Gwang declaration issued by the three of its former military generals.
On Monday, the former SPLA-IO Chief of General Staff, Simon Gatwech Dual, former Sector 1 commander Gen. Johnson Olony Thubo and Thomas Dhoal former—sector 3 commander—held a three-day meeting in Magenis town of Upper Nile, and declared Gen. Simon Gatwech as the SPLM/A-IO’s Commander-in-Chief and the First Vice President of the country.
On Wednesday, the SPLM-IO Political Bureau met in Juba over the Kit Gwang Declaration issued by the three self-proclaimed military leadership.
In the statement seen by City Review, the SPLM-IO the condemned Kit Gwang Declaration and called it “ill-fated”, saying the declaration was engineered and facilitated by peace spoilers who they accused of sponsoring the previous attacks on Turu cantonment site in Maiwut County, Liengkiji cantonment site in Maban County in Upper Nile State, Moroto training center in Kajo Keji in Central Equatoria State.
Blames
They also accused the group of being behind the previous attacks on SPLA-IO in Western Bahr El-Ghazal and Western Equatoria States respectively.
“The declaration was intended to derail the formation of the unified command, graduation and the deployment of unified forces, which remain an outstanding priority after the conclusion of the reconstitution of the national legislature,” the document read in part.
The meeting in Juba was attended by the members of the SPLA-IO military Command Council and senior officers from other organised forces who are also members of the peace implementation mechanisms.
The Political Bureau has assured the members of the SPLM/A-IO and the public in general that the situation was under control.
It also raised concern about what it called the constant harassment and arbitrary arrest and detention of the SPLM/A-IO personnel—both in Juba and other towns in the country—by the Incumbent Transition Government of National Unity (ITGoNU) organs.
In the same document, the SPLM/A-IO leadership condemned the arbitrary detention of some of the members of the People’s Coalition for Civil Action.
“This group was exercising its constitutional right of freedom of speech, expression and association even though the SPLM/A (IO) does not necessarily agree with the content of their message,” the statement had remarked.
The Political Bureau demanded the immediate release of those detainees.
