Top SSOA leaders welcome Kiir-Machar consensus on states
Chairman of the National Democratic Movement (NDM) and SSOA Secretary-General Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin (right) and leader of South Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM/A) Lt. Gen. Bapiny Manytuil Wijang (left) (Photo by South Sudan News Now)
June 19, 2020 (SSNN) – Two senior members of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) have welcomed the decision by President Salva Kiir Mayardit and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny to bring the states deadlock to an end.
On Wednesday, Kiir and Machar met in J1 and resolved to end the four-month-old deadlock to an end by allocating six states to the SPLM-IG, three to the SPLM-IO, and one state to the Alliance.
The SPLM-IG – according to the agreement – will take the states of Unity, Lakes, Warrap, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Central, and Eastern Equatoria.
The SPLM-IO was given the states of Upper Nile, Western Bahr el Ghazal, and Western Equatoria.
SSOA was given Jonglei state which it rejected, as per a statement by the group’s chairperson, Josephine Lagu, because it had long sought to have the oil-rich Upper Nile state instead.
However, in a statement this evening, Dr. Lam Akol, the Secretary-General of the opposition consortium and Lt. Gen. Bapiny Manytuil Wijang, the head of the Alliance’s security body, differed with Ms. Lagu and said the decision by the two leaders will end the suffering of the people of South Sudan which they said matter the most.
“The agreement reached 17 June 2020 by the leaders of SPLM-IG, H.E. President Salva Kiir, and SPLM/A-10, H.E. First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar on the allocation of Governors of States to the Parties of the Agreement is a right step in the right direction,” the two said in a statement extended to South Sudan News Now this evening.
“We appreciate the efforts of the two Principals and their decision to break the deadlock between them. This matter has taken four long months to negotiate with a great deal of arguments some of which were really pedantic,” they said.
The two powerful opposition leaders stressed that the people of South Sudan in the “states were suffering, especially from rising insecurity and the lack of preparedness to combat the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic. All these need a political leadership in the State.”
“This is why we applaud the decision as it will help serve our people. We stand with the said decision and urge that the Governors be appointed as soon as possible for them to go on with the implementation of the peace agreement together with the national government.
“Nevertheless, we call for a face-to-face meeting of all the Parties to the Agreement 30 as to ensure their unanimity on this important step and the way forward.”
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