Gen. Simon Gatwich Dual, the leader of the breakaway SPLM/A-IO Kit-Gwang faction last week summoned members of the outfit’s advance team in Juba back to Khartoum for consultations, insinuating that the government is not committed to implementing the agreement they signed.
Radio Tamazuj caught up with and sounded out the head of the Agwelek Division’s (allied to Gen. Gatwich) advance delegation to Juba, General Paul Achut Nyibek, about the developments.
Below are edited excerpts:
Q: Your chairman, Gen. Simon Gatwich, has called on your delegation to report back to Khartoum for consultations. What is this about?
A: This statement is sent particularly to the government and the guarantors of this peace agreement in Sudan. The reason he is calling us back to Khartoum is for more consultations which is something normal for any organization. We shall delegate a few of our members to go and consult with our leadership when the time comes. But for now, he is directly addressing the government.
Q: In your opinion, why is he calling you back at this time?
A: I need to be frank with you. When we arrived in Juba over two months ago, we said we are here to fully implement the Khartoum Agreement. That is why we are here. Since then, the agreement has not been implemented in the way it should be.
The joint military structure has been formed by all the parties. We have 7 members from Kit-Gwang, Agwelek (Division) has 7 and the government has 7, which totals 21 members. Now the committee has begun to implement the agreement, specifically the security arrangements. They have identified the assembly areas and some logistical supplies have already arrived at those areas and some of our top military leaders are already making their way to the sites. So the agreement is being implemented but not at the speed expected.
Q: What has been implemented so far since you came to Juba?
A: According to the agreement, the formation of the Joint Military Committee is already a good start. This agreement is responsible for the implementation of the security arrangements. It oversees the recruitment of the different forces including the military, police, Wildlife, and so on.
There are political arrangements that are linked and determined by the implementation of the security arrangements. We in the political committee are supposed to meet with the president but up to now, this has not happened.
After meeting with the president, we are supposed to go and meet with the Chollo King in Fashoda. After that, we are supposed to launch civic education on the agreement so that our people know about this agreement followed by a reconciliation conference among the different communities in the Upper Nile state.
Q: While you were making all these arrangements, some of your members in the Kit-Gwang declaration defected and joined the government. What is your take on this?
A: I believe you are talking about our military spokesperson (William Gatjiath). He was not happy from the beginning of this agreement and maybe realized that opportunities are narrow for him. If you can remember, there was an audio circulated on social media in his name and there were a lot of accusations against him for engaging in secret talks with the government. So after the Kit-Gwang faction signed the agreement, he felt a bit uncomfortable. That is why he might have defected.
Q: There are allegations that your forces are fighting alongside SSPDF against the forces of Dr. Riek Machar. What is your comment on this?
A: How can we be fighting alongside government troops if Machar’s forces are the ones who are attacking our positions? If you can remember the incident of Magenis, they attacked us 13 times. Our leader said all these forces are our forces and there is no need to fight each other. But Machar had an illusion that Magenis should be captured.
We had a lot of patience with these provocations but at the end of the day, we had to put an end to them. And as we speak now, Machar does not have any presence in Northern Upper Nile. Unless he decides to bring forces from the eastern bank of the Nile to fight us, which we are not going to accept, because we will not allow any war again to take place in the land of Northern Upper Nile.
Q: What are you going to do to revert Upper Nile to its initial social fabric?
A: I want to make this clear to everybody that we are here with open hands to fully implement this peace agreement. The Upper Nile region has suffered a lot and our people have been displaced.
If you ask yourself why people fighting, no one will tell you any concrete objective. That is why we say there is no alternative better than peace. This agreement shall bring us complete peace if it is fully implemented. We are hopeful that our region will go back to its initial social stability.
Within the agreement, there is a provision for social reconciliation among different communities in Upper Nile. So if that happens, what else do we need?
Q: What is your final message to the people of Upper Nile and South Sudan generally?
A: If you look at the beginning of the different guerilla movements, Anyanya One, Anyanya Two, and SPLA, all of them started in Upper Nile. So, if this region does not have peace and stability, South Sudan will not live in peace. That is why we wanted to focus on and bring peace to Upper Nile at any cost.
Some people have this illusion in their minds that they do not want to see some ethnic groups in certain areas. Enough is enough because this is time for peace. We want Chollo to sit with Dinka, Nuer, Maban, etc and we face each other.
For us Chollo, we have a tradition of taking oaths and if you do not keep your vow, it will turn against you. I think all the Nilotic tribes have this practice as well. No one will bring us peace and if there are people outside thinking that we are waiting for any leader to bring us peace, they will wait in vain and we will not achieve peace.
Look, now we are living in Equatoria and nobody is saying we should go away. Why don’t we maintain the same spirit in Malakal and other towns such as Renk, Malut, Kodok, etc? Humility is good. We should lower ourselves so that we can be raised by others. That is why we came with our hearts open so that we can have peace in Upper Nile. If there is no peace in Upper Nile, it is difficult to experience stability in South Sudan.