Various stakeholders have raised concerns over the recent Port Sudan Agreement between the SPLA-IO Kitgwang group, led by Simon Gatwech, and the Government of South Sudan.
Sudan’s military government was instrumental in brokering the talks between the South Sudanese government and the SPLA-IO Kitgwang faction.
Political analysts, civil society activist and government critics are questioning the modalities that birthed the February 2 deal.
The agreement is expected to see the integration of the former fighters into the South Sudan Army and Gatwech taking over the post of the Deputy Chief of the Defense Forces.
Political analyst James Boboya said most agreements signed with the government were about money and power.
“The problem is that every peace negotiation in South Sudan is about the exchange of money and power. Gatwech finds himself in a situation in which he is unable to do anything, so the best option is to come home but quickly sign something called a peace agreement which, to me, does not exist,” Boboya told Radio Tamazuj.
“The peace process requires mediation, negotiation, and guarantors. It is a whole process but this one looks like a family brokering, which is a problem because all the people who come to Juba are locked up in houses. If that is going to bring the peace, we are yet to see because the Tumaini Initiative also seeks to accommodate the people who are in Nairobi. If there is no will to get genuine peace in the Tumaini Initiative, I don’t know how the government will convince Gatwech that he will be a general in the army,” he added.
The analyst said if bringing Gatwech into the government can bring about peace, then they could use similar means to convince other opposition leaders from outside the country.
“If indeed the government is interested in genuine peace, then they can still talk to Thomas Cirillo because there is no need to spend a lot of money in Nairobi in the Tumaini if they can call Cirillo, Pagan Amum, or even Malong Awan to come home,” he stressed.
Civil society activist Ter Manyang Gatwech, raised concerns about the implementation of such agreements, drawing comparison with the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS).
“There are concerns among citizens. One is the implementation of R-ARCSS and if the government is genuinely honest to implement the agreement, they should look for the holdout groups,” he said
“Such shortcut agreements sometimes don’t last. It is up to the government to tell the public why to date there was not much implementation of the extended ARCSS,” he said
Government critic Clement Aturjong Kon Deng said the agreement would not work, questioning the government’s seriousness.
“I think it will not work. If they wanted, they could have asked them to join Nairobi,” Aturjong said.
“Even the SPLM-IO is unhappy because the 2018 peace agreement is not being implemented. As an observer, I believe that it is only the SPLM-IO that has the ability to question or oppose the government, while the others in the presidency appear to be largely pro-government. I do not think the agreement with Gen. Gatwech will work,” he added.
Who is Gen. Gatwech?
Gen. Simon Gatwech was appointed Chief of Staff of the SPLA-IO in 2014, but he declined to go to Juba after the signing of the 2018 peace agreement unless the security arrangements were fully implemented.
In June 2021, Gen. Gatwech was relieved from his position and appointed by President Salva Kiir as a peace advisor for the presidency, an offer he turned down, saying he was not consulted and that it was an attempt to lure him to Juba.
In August 2021, Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual issued a communiqué following a meeting of SPLA-IO commanders in Kit-Gwang in Magenis, a northernmost town bordering Sudan, declaring that they had ousted Dr. Riek Machar as the leader of the SPLM/A-IO. In what has since come to be known as the Kit-Gwang Declaration, Gatwech declared himself the new leader and appointed Gen. Johnson Olony as his number two.
In January 2022, the SPLA-IO Kit-Gwang faction signed a peace agreement in Khartoum with the government. The Agwelek forces, led by Gen. Olony, also signed a separate agreement with the government at the same time. The Kit-Gwang faction, however, became disillusioned months after the peace deal and blamed the government for not implementing it.
Gatwech and Olony later fell out, with the former firing the latter, and their forces clashing several times. Olony would later say that he was for peace and willing to return to Juba.