A South Sudanese rebel faction has announced its withdrawal from a peace agreement signed with the government a year ago, accusing authorities in Juba of violating the deal and resuming attacks on its forces.
In a letter dated February 2, 2026, General Simon Gatwech Dual, leader of the SPLM/A-IO Kit-Gwang faction, declared the group’s formal exit from the Port Sudan Peace Agreement signed on February 2, 2025.
The letter was addressed to Sudan’s Sovereign Council President Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and copied to Sudanese intelligence chief Ahmed Ibrahim Mufadal, the agreement’s guarantor, as well as South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and the country’s Internal Security Bureau, according to a copy seen by Radio Tamazuj.
The deal was signed in Port Sudan between the Kit-Gwang faction and the South Sudanese government, with Sudan acting as guarantor.
It set out a 12-month implementation timeline, including the integration of Kit-Gwang forces into the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) and the appointment of Gatwech as deputy commander-in-chief of the army.
An advance team from the faction travelled to Juba shortly after the signing to begin talks on implementation, the letter said.
But Gatwech said that a year later “not a single provision” of the agreement had been implemented and that the government had failed to officially engage with the advance team.
Instead, he accused authorities of taking “unilateral actions”, including dismissing the agreement’s focal person and launching attacks on Kit-Gwang cantonment areas.
He said the alleged violations amounted to a collapse of the ceasefire, accusing government forces of targeting Kit-Gwang fighters and civilians in Jonglei State and holding the advance team “hostage” by preventing consultations for a year.
Gatwech also said his forces, together with other opposition groups, captured Pajut in northern Jonglei on January 16, forming a new alliance known as the Joint Opposition Movements Forces.
The rebel leader traced the current tensions to a split within the main SPLM/A-IO in August 2021, accusing the government of exploiting divisions within the opposition by signing separate peace agreements.
He further accused the government of fuelling ethnic tensions in Upper Nile and Equatoria states.
Noting Sudan’s role as guarantor, Gatwech warned that responsibility for a renewed slide into conflict would be shared by all signatories, while holding President Kiir primarily responsible.
The South Sudanese government has not yet responded publicly to Gen. Gatwech’s announcement.
Who is Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual?
Gen Simon Gatwech Dual served as Chief of Staff of the SPLA-IO from 2014. After the signing of the 2018 peace agreement, he refused to travel to Juba, citing the lack of progress on security arrangements.
In 2021, President Salva Kiir appointed him as a presidential peace advisor, but Gatwech rejected the offer, saying he had not been consulted and accusing the government of attempting to lure him to Juba.
In August 2021, Gatwech issued what became known as the Kit-Gwang Declaration after a meeting of SPLA-IO commanders in Magenis, Upper Nile State, announcing he had removed Dr Riek Machar as leader of the SPLM/A-IO. He named Gen Johnson Olony as his deputy.
The SPLM/A-IO Kit-Gwang faction later signed a peace deal with the government in Khartoum in January 2022. Agwelek forces aligned with Olony signed a separate agreement. However, relations between Gatwech and Olony soon deteriorated, leading to several armed clashes. Olony later declared he supported peace and returned to Juba.
In February 2025, Gen Gatwech signed a new agreement with the government that includes provisions for integrating his forces into the national army and appointing him as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the SSPDF.