South Sudan rebel movement splits over Machar’s “selfish interests”

After months of irreconcilable differences between generals and the leader of the SPLM/A-IO (In Opposition), former Vice President Riek Machar, the rebel movement has split.

The splinter group led by Peter Gatdet Yak includes Gabriel Tanginya, Gathoth Gatkuoth, Chuol Gakah, Gatwech Puoch Mar and Makuach Teny. The accuse Machar of selfish interest in the ongoing IGAD-led peace negotiations with President Kiir’s government in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

Peter Gatdet Yak announced the split on August 11, just shortly before an August 17 deadline requiring the conflicting parties, the government and the SPLM/A-IO to sign a peace deal.

In a statement, Gatdet said the generals have lost confidence in the leadership of Riek Machar and immediately ceases to be Commander In-Chief of the SPLM/A-IO.

Therefore, any peace deal he ( Machar) signs with the government of South Sudan will not be legitimate and will not be respected by the SPLM/A-IO led by the generals,” Gatdet is quoted.

Another key military figure in the breakaway faction, Gathoth Gatkuoth, told the BBC Focus on Africa on August 12, that Machar was only working with Taban Deng Gai, his wife Angelina Teny and close relatives.

Gatkouth blamed Machar for what he described as betraying the Nuer ethnic group and Nuer victims of genocide” in the country. He claimed that he, Gatdet and other commanders were fully in-charge of the entire rebel army divisions in Upper Nile, Unity and Jonglei states.

However, SPLM/A-IO politicians, such as Taban Gai Deng, are said to be allied to Machar.

The latest development in the rebel camp comes hardly a week after Presidential Advisor Tor Deng Mawien told Sudan Tribune that  the government was receiving reports of an imminent division in the leadership of the rebels.

Mawien cautioned that such divisions may undermine regional and international efforts to bring peace to the conflict ravaged country.

The government has been saying all along that Riek Machar was not in control. This was why the rebels have never respected the terms of cessation [of] hostilities agreement, despite numerous assurances of commitment by Riek himself and Taban Deng Gai, because those on the ground have their own ambitions and they see themselves as separate group from them,” Mawien said.

He added that unless Gatdet and his faction joined the government, the prospect of the two warring parties signing a peace deal could be undermined by such developments.

Mawien noted that the government would welcome the defected rebel commanders back if they decided to return. The government is ready to work with all those willing to put down arms and return to the country to pursue peace and reconciliations,” he added.

Other sources within the government told the media in Juba that contacts with defecting” senior rebel commanders were in their final stages.

The split in the rebel ranks scatters hopes of many South Sudanese who have been optimistic that the government and the rebels would sign a peace deal by August 17, a deadline set by the IGAD Plus negotiators.

The SPLM/A-IO is a rebel group named and led by Riek Machar after the December 2013 crisis that has left parts of Greater Upper Nile (Unity, Jonglei and Upper Nile states) in ruins. The conflict has left thousands dead and millions displaced.