FILE: General Simon Gatwech Dual introducing Dr. Riek Machar to SPLA-IO commanders. Courtesy

The SPLM-IO leadership in Juba has condemned the declaration by some of its Generals that Dr. Riek Machar is no longer the head of the party and army.

On Tuesday, field military commanders in Kit Gwang -Meganis at the border with Sudan announced an interim leader of the SPLM/A-IO.

The three-day military leadership conference chaired by General Simon Gatwech Dual resolved to dismiss and strip Dr. Riek Machar of the leadership position of the peace party.

It also declared General Gatwech as the interim leader of the movement and seconded him as the First Vice President of South Sudan.

They further announced the dissolution of the SPLM-IO Political Bureau and the National Liberation Council.

General Gatwech groups asked all politicians in Juba and military officers assigned to the various peace mechanisms to report to Kit-Gwang -Meganis for further consultations.

This prompted the SPLM-IO Political Bureau to convene a meeting in Juba yesterday.

The meeting chaired by Dr. Riek Machar dismissed the Kit-Gwang declaration describing it as an “ill-fated declaration.”

In a statement seen by Eye Radio, the meeting noted that General Simon Gatwech and his allies who met in Meganis do not constitute the SPLA-IO leadership of the Military Command Council.

“According to SPLM/A-IO constitution, military command or military leaders do not make political decisions,” said Puok Bok, member of SPLM-IO Political Bureau.

The Juba meeting affirmed that by the time of the declaration, General Simon Gatwech had already been relieved from the command of the SPLA-IO.

“Therefore, all their claims that they ousted the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar, from the position of the chairman of the SPLM-IO is illegal and invalid,” Mr. Bok added.

The emergency meeting further accused the authors of the declaration as peace spoilers with the intention of derailing the formation of the unified command, graduation, and deployment of unified forces.

The statement signed by Dr. Riek Machar did not, however, respond to the allegations issued by General Simon Gatwech.

In Kit-Gwang Meganis declaration, General Gatwech’s group castigated Dr. Riek Machar for not pushing for the full implementation of the security arrangement.

They accused Machar of nepotism, dictatorship, loss of vision, abandoning and ignoring the plight of SPLA-IO soldiers at the cantonment sites, and self-centered politics.

A civil society activist, Edmund Yakani has called on religious leaders to initiate dialogue between the two sides.