The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) Kit-Gwang faction has issued a stern warning to the rival faction of SPLM/A-IO led by the First Vice President Dr Riek Machar, urging them to stop attacking their (Kit-Gwang’s) forces.
The call came after a fresh clash on Monday at Torkech, near Nasir, between the two rival factions. This is the second time the two factions have clashed since the chairman of the breakaway faction arrived in Magenis, under the pretext of disseminating the contents of the recently signed Khartoum peace deal.
The press secretary of the SPLM/A-IO Kit Gwang faction, James Kalany Mamuon, told The City Review yesterday that they had been forced to act in self-defence since they did not want to fight after the signing of the Khartoum Peace Agreement.
He appealed to Machar’s forces to embrace peace.
“Last week, our chairman went to our headquarters at Magenis to disseminate the contents of the Khartoum Peace Agreement and on Monday, the SPLA-IO forces (Machar’s group) attacked our forces at Torkech, but we repulsed them. They incurred serious losses, ” Kalany said.
“Our forces will soon be part of the SSPDF, and we are only assembling our forces right now as we wait for instructions from our advanced security team in Juba. This is not a time of war. We have to give peace a chance. Let them stop attacking our forces because very soon our forces will be part of SSPDF,” he stressed.
Kalany disclosed to The City Review yesterday that they repulsed Machar’s forces on Monday in Torkech, where their forces had gathered awaiting instructions on the integration from their advanced security team in Juba.
When asked who confronted whom, given that Nasir is the headquarters of the SPLM/A-IO, he stated that one of the proposed assembling areas for their forces was near Nasir, which is where the clashes occurred.
The Kit-Gwang press secretary said the possibility of their chairman, Simon Gatwech, returning to Khartoum was still unknown as he had not completed disseminating the contents of the agreement to the forces.
Col Lam Paul, the spokesperson of the SPLA-IO led by Dr Riek, declined to comment on the matter.
However, Lam, in a previous interview with The City Review before the attack, said their forces would not violate orders from their Chairman, Dr Riek Machar Teny, who had asked them to disengage from attacks, considering Kit-Gwang forces as part of the SSPDF.
“The SPLA-IO forces cannot violate an order from their Commander in Chief. The Kit Gwang faction is already part of the SSPDF, and we are implementing peace with the SSPDF. So, if there is any violation, we expect complaints from the SSPDF. Secondly, the clashes that happened in Nasser was in IO territory, not SSPDF’s,” Col Lam Paul said.
Not us
Lam stated that the attacks were from Kit Gwang because the area where the clashes took place was their territory.
On January 16, 2022, a high-level delegation led by the Presidential Security Advisor, Tut Gatluak Manime, inked an agreement with the Kit Gwang faction to end the stalemate between SPLA-IO and the Kit Gwang faction through the integration of Kit Gwang forces into SSPDF.
The agreement stated that a joint security committee, comprising security teams from the two parties to the agreement, was to be formed within three months of the signing of the Khartoum Peace Agreement.
The formation of the committee that was to jumpstart the process of the integration of Kit Gwang forces into the SSPDF is seen to be nagging.
Blame games
On Sunday, both the Kit Gwang faction and the SPLM/A-IO of Dr Machar traded accusations against each other concerning clashes in Nasir last week.
Similarly, Kit Gwang claimed victory over their rivals as the SPLA-IO said they did not attack Kit Gwang’s position since Nasir where the clashes occurred, was their headquarters.
The Spokesperson of Kit Gwang, James Kalany Mamuon, said they were committed to the Khartoum Peace Agreement that they signed with the government.
“Since the signing of the Khartoum Peace Agreement, our forces yesterday clashed with SPLM/A-IO forces in Nasir; they were repulsed,” Kalany said.
“We are committed to the peace agreement, and the chairman is now on the ground to brief forces about the contents of the agreement, and after that, he will return to Khartoum.”
However, Col. Lam stated that they did not initiate the attack.
Following the signing of the Khartoum Peace Agreement, which he dubbed the “defection agreement,” Dr Machar barred his forces from attacking, considering Kit Gwang forces to be part of the SSPDF and warning of violation, adding that it would be counted against the SSPDF.
Threat to peace
The civil society activist and the executive director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Edmund Yakani, warned that clashes and subsequent defections were clear indicators of the emergence of peace spoilers towards the end of the transitional period.
“The frictions among the SPLA-IO rivalling factions is posing a real threat to securing peace and stability through the implementation of R-ARCSS,” Yakani said. He added: “The trend of defections among the SPLA-IO is dangerous and risky for the political process of transitioning from violence to peace through R-ARCSS implementation.”