SPLA-IO debunks claims that Olony owns different faction
SPLA-IO spokesman Brig. Gen. Lam Paul Gabriel (Photo credit: Supplied)
July 7, 2020 (SSNN) – South Sudan’s main armed opposition group, SPLA-IO, has debunked claims by senior government officials that General Johnson Olony owns a different opposition faction and as such he should not be appointed as governor of Upper Nile state.
The SPLM-IO had last week nominated Olony for governor of Upper Nile state which has been allocated to the group by the revitalized peace agreement.
However, Kiir rejected to appoint Olony pointing to rejection by a section of communities that constitute the Upper Nile state.
Following the rejection, Ateny came to the media and claimed that Olony was not a member of the SPLA-IO and was not ready for the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement because he was not in Juba like Machar.
In a statement, Brigadier-General Gatjiath Deng, the SPLA-IO spokesman, said the claims were not true and reiterated that the senior member of the SPLM/SPLA (IO) is committed to the revitalized peace agreement signed by their group in 2018.
“The Office of the Army Spokesman of Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition SPLA (IO), would like to dismiss the claim that was publicly announced on the national (TV) and acrimoniously circulated on the social media by the Press Secretary of the President, Ateny Wek Ateny, that Sector One (1) Commander, Lieutenant General, Johnson Olony Thabo, should not be announced as the governor of Upper Nile State, because he owned a faction and commander in chief of the Agwelek forces,” the statement seen by South Sudan News Now partly reads.
“Ateny, also claimed that Agwelek forces have no presence in the unification training centers, and Gen. Johnson Olony, has no right at all to be the potential nominee of the SPLM/A (IO) and he is not ready for peace since he has the separate army. All the claims made by the Press Secretary of the president seems to be ambivalence in the public,” the statement added.
The statement explained that the Agwelek division led by Olony “is not standing alone as an entity but is a Division in Sector One (1) army structure with Division Seven (7) and Division One (1), during the selection of the unify forces, Agwelek Division sent the equal share requested at the training centers but where did Ateny Wek Ateny got that information?”
“It is better that peace could go straight as it is being written, but my question is; how could the president of the republic, disregard the appointment of the SPLM/A (IO) potential nominee? While in the other hand, he appointed some notorious politicians who had caught red-handed on the genocide of the Nuer in 2013, and even some of them castrated the young boys purposely to exterminate and blackened the future of the young generations.
“The SPLM/A (IO) is a national movement fighting for the right of South Sudanese people and signed the current peace deal with the government purposely to end the suffering of the innocent population of South Sudan not because the government has an upper hand and could dictate the SPLM/A (IO) legitimate rights. Let the government stop fabrications and politicization so that the peace could avail in the country.”
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