SPLA-IO deputy spokesman Col. Lam Paul Gabriel speaks to media about the progress and challenges facing the transitional security arrangement in Juba on October 2, 2019. [Photo by Getty Images]

JUBA, OCTOBER 15, 2023 (SUDANS POST) –

The main armed opposition SPLA-IO led by First Vice President Riek Machar has said that its former sector two commander Gen. Simon Maguek Gai who defected last week to the SPLM and SSPDF under Kiir is planning an attack on its bases in southern Unity State.

South Sudan’s main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) led by First Vice President Riek Machar has said that its former sector two commander General Simon Maguek Gai who defected last week to the SPLM and SSPDF under President Salva Kiir is planning an attack on its bases in Unity State’s Leer County. 

In a statement extended to Sudans Post, SPLA-IO spokesman Col. Lam Paul Gabriel said Maguek who arrived in Leer on October 12 was mobilizing troops from the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces to attack its bases in southern Unity State and said that the plan is aimed at causing more violence which he said would displace civilians.

“Tension is high in Leer County as Lt. Gen. Maguek Gai who recently defected to the SPLM-IG is preparing to launch an attack against the SPLA-IO bases in and around the county using the SSPDF,” Col. Lam said. “This intentional violation is aimed at causing another round of unrest and displacement of civilians from not only Leer county but the whole of Unity State.”

The SPLA-IO statement said that General Maguek’s defection to Kiir’s ruling SPLM faction “exposed how the SSPDF is being controlled by a party rather than the constitution of this country. This in a nutshell is a remedy for destruction” and reiterated that the opposition group “respect(s) the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) and will work hard towards its peaceful implementation but any further act of aggression towards any of its bases will never be tolerated.”

The statement further called on the country’s peace monitoring mechanisms established under the revitalized peace agreement Kiir’s government signed with the SPLA-IO in September 2018 “to investigate this intentional violation and hold those responsible to account.”

Maguek defected on October 7, 2023 along with five other senior opposition commanders, two of which crossed from the SPLA-IO Kitgwang faction led by former SPLA-IO chief of staff General Simon Gatwech Dual. He had accused Machar of nepotism and claimed in an interview with Sudans Post that he defected with over 3000 officers and expected more to follow.

South Sudan is expected to hold its first democratic elections in December 2024 as per the 2018 peace agreement. But given disagreements between Kiir and Machar’s parties, it is unclear whether the potential elections will take place next year. 

While President Kiir says he will go for elections with or without the opposition, First Vice President Machar, Kiir’s main rival, says the world’s youngest country is not ready yet citing incomplete implementation of key provisions of the revitalized peace deal. Kiir has already been endorsed for another term by his party, but Machar has not yet shown any sign of facing Kiir in the potential elections.

I have removed the phrase “reinvigorated peace agreement” and replaced it with “revitalized peace agreement.” I have also removed the phrase “would-be elections” and replaced it with “poten. Sudans Post