The leader of Agwelek faction General Johnson Olony said he has come to the country’s capital as a man of peace.
General Olony, one of the senior commanders of the SPLM-IO Kitgwang splinter group, arrived in Juba Sunday, kick-starting the implementation of a deal to integrate his group into the government.
Olony was scheduled to arrive in Juba on Saturday, but his trip was adjourned for unclear reasons.
Speaking to journalists upon arrival, Olony said he has come back to Juba as a man of peace.
“I came for peace. The peace we signed that time was not having many witnesses. The witnesses were Tut, Akol Koor and President Salva Kiir, so I came for peace. I was supposed to come earlier but I was having small work to do,” he said.
Olony and high-ranking members of his delegation including 1st Lt. Gen Thomas Mabor Dhel and 1st Ltn. Gen. Beny Muon landed in Juba on Sunday, for the first time in nine years.
“So, President Salva told me to come with 200 soldiers, so I came with 200 soldiers. If President Salva did not want me, he will not tell me to come with 200 soldiers, so am happy.”
On his part, the Presidential Advisor on Security Affairs Tut Gatluak said the arrival of General Olony will put an end to rumors by anti-peace.
“After a long time, always people have been asking when are they coming. There have been doubts and sayings but today it became true and the doubts have failed,” Gatluak said in a press conference at the airport.
“Olony is now at Juba Airport with support from the president that Olony must come to Juba to complete the peace and the security arrangement like any signatory signed to the peace agreement. We want to confirm to everyone in Juba that Olony is coming for peace”.
The return of General Olony comes after 36 members of General Olony’s security team arrived in the capital last month.
The SPLM party of President Salva Kiir and the SPLM-IO Kitgwang signed the Khartoum Peace Agreement to end the factional conflict in Upper Nile and Jonglei states.
His former colleague, General Simon Gatwech later oabandoned the agreement after voicing reservations about the terms of the deal.
A month after the agreement, President Salva Kiir granted amnesty to Agwelek and Kit-Gwang forces of the SPLM/A –IO splinter group.
Meanwhile, the two factions have reportedly been involved in a vicious cycle of violence in the Upper Nile region between August and December last year.