South Sudan’s armed opposition faction’s (SPLM-IO) head of information and public relations, Mabior Garang has dismissed claims that the rebels were lobbying to have former First Vice-President, Riek Machar replaced.

Mabior Garang, in a statement issued on Wednesday, denied the claim and accused South Sudanese government officials of allegedly generating what he called a “malicious propaganda”.

“The SPLM/SPLA (IO) would like to reassure members that this is false and that they should ignore this propaganda, intended to engineer a split in the Movement. Your Movement, the SPLM/SPLA (IO), is not interested in a quick solution that will ensure jobs for our cadres,” partly reads the statement.

Garang, son of the late founder of South Sudan’s liberation struggle in the early 1980s, argued that the principal objective of the SPLM/SPLA(IO) was to bring fundamental change in the country and that means of achieving these are determined by all adversaries.

“The SPLM/SPLA (IO) has proven beyond any doubt, our commitment to peace through a negotiated settlement, as much as the regime has proven its intransigence,” he stressed, adding” The SPLM/SPLA (IO) will not participate in any forum in which we are not equal partners; as long as President Salva Kiir is a party to the war and a mediator in IGAD, the process is dead in the water, as it were”.

On Tuesday, South Sudan deputy ambassador to United States, Gordon Buay claimed about five top officials from the armed opposition lobbied for Machar’s removal in the neighboring Sudan.

But Garang, in the statement, said that despite all circumstances, the SPLM/SPLA (IO) was committed to peace, through a negotiated settlement and shall be ready to engage in any credible process.

He further appealed to all supporters of the armed opposition movement to be cautious and vigilant and ignore all malicious propaganda created by enemies striving to divide the rebel group.