By William Madouk
A faction of the South Sudan United Front/Army (SSUF/A) that had previously defected to the ruling SPLM party has criticized General Dickson Gatluak’s decision to withdraw from the “homegrown” peace process in South Sudan.
On Thursday, General Dickson Gatluak announced that his faction was pulling out of the domestically-led peace negotiations, citing a lack of commitment and reluctance from the Juba administration.
Nhial Dojiok Doap, SSUF/A-ND Chief Negotiator alleged that the delegation was not given political, nor accorded with no freedom of expression and movement and worst still restricted from travelling even on medical grounds.
“National Security confiscated the passport of a senior SSUF/A-ND member on October 3 and returned it on 5 December 2023, denying him permission to travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,” he explained.
“Daily threats and intimidations have been issued to our delegates, including the threat of arrest if they resist or travel without any approval from the security,” the chief negotiator alleged.
However, in a press statement signed by eight members of SSUF/A who rejoined Salva Kiir, they disputed the intimidation and life-threat allegations from the national security personnel against the delegation.
“It is very unfortunate that we the members of the defunct SSUF/A-Nairobi Declaration have learnt with dismay the allegations falsely made public by an individual called Dickson Gatluak Jock against the government of South Sudan, predominantly the leadership of the Internal Security Bureau (ISB-NSS),” partly read the statement.
“To be frank, none of us experienced any passport confiscation by National Security Service since we arrived in Juba on 12/June/2023 as he purported,” they claimed.
They disputed the claims that members of the delegation were put on a travel ban, adding that they are all free to travel to any destination of an individual’s choice, whether domestic or international.
“The two officers he claimed to have been held at Sector 4 on 30/Dec/2023 in Juba, had never happened, but just a cooked-up story to fetch the attention of the public,” it added.
A section of South Sudan United Front/Army – Nairobi Declaration remnants stated that the two people he mentioned were based in the USA and UK and were not members of the movement.
“We, all the defunct SSUF/A comrades, have remained in Juba and still holding our position as members of the SPLM and rallying behind H.E. the President of the Republic, Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit.”
According to the group, there were 10 members in the delegation. Out of this figure, Mr. Nhial Dojiok Doap returned to the USA, and Mr. Dickson Gatluak Jock withdrew from the peace deal.
‘All of these members joined the SPLM last year and are still in Juba, South Sudan, except for Mr. Nhial Dojiok Doap, who returned to the USA, and Mr. Dickson Gatluak Jock, who has decided to leave the country as an individual,” it concluded.