The Kitgwang Declaration was a coup by South Sudanese rebel commander Simon Gatwech Dual on 4 August 2021, in which he replaced Vice President Riek Machar as leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition leading to a deadly conflict.

[2] Since Machar's return to Juba from exile to form a unity government with President Salva Kiir Mayardit in February 2020, Dual begun speaking out against Machar for "compromising" key provisions of the revitalized peace agreement signed in 2018 such as the security arrangements in which rival forces of the opposition and the government were to be unified to form a professional national army.

[8][9] Machar's office later announced that Gatwech had been replaced as chief of staff of the opposition military deepening the disagreements within the group.

[12][13] Machar responded with another communiqué following a meeting of the SPLM-IO Political Bureau in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, and then accused unnamed "peace spoilers" of engineering the opposition split.

[14][15] On August 7, forces from the Tiger Battalion allied to Machar launched an attack on Gatwech's position in Magenis sparking fierce fighting that resulted in the killing of at least 28 soldiers from both sides.