Lam Akol - Malakal clashes are responsibility of SPLM not SPLM-DC
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By Manyang Mayom
March 16, 2011 (RUMBEK) - The leader for Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) Lam Akol has rejected
accusations by South Sudan’s ruling party that his party has armedi
militias groups in Upper Nile state to destabilize the regions
security.
Lam Akol, head of the SPLM-DC (AFP) The secretary general of the Sudan
People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) - from whom the SPLM-DC split in
2009 - Pagan Amum Okiech, said this week that SPLM-DC was behind
clashes in Shilluk areas of Upper Nile and the state’s capital
Malakal, which killed over 40 people according to reports.
Speaking to Sudan Tribune by telephone from Khartoum Akol dismissed
the accusations as “nonsense” and were fabricated to distort SPLM-DC’s
image among its supporters.
Akol said Amum’s allegations were “lies” adding that SPLM-DC has
nothing to do with any militias in Malakal.
“I need to put it clear to people of Southern Sudan that SPLM-DC have
no military wing present in Southern Sudan or elsewhere in the Sudan –
we are purely a political party serving people of Southern Sudan” Akol
said.
He said that the incident in Malakal was the responsibility of the
state governor of and leaders of the SPLM and the South’s army the
SPLA. The SPLA, now the official army of the South, fought for over
two decades against Khartoum governments for the right of self
determination. A 2005 peace deal made the SPLM the governing party of
South Sudan and in January the region voted to secede from the north.
Since the SPLM-DC split from the SPLM nine months ahead of the 2010
general elections he has enjoyed a frosty relationship with his former
colleagues. Amum’s claims are not the first time the SPLM have accused
Akol’s party of having an armed wing and being backed by Khartoum.
Akol was made Sudan’s foreign minister after the 2005 Comprehensive
Peace Agreement (CPA) as an SPLM member of the national cabinet but
was withdrawn from the post over his perceived closeness to Sudan’s
ruling National Congress Party.
The latest fighting in Malakal, Akol said, was casused by the SPLM/A’s
failure to form agreements with the militias and armed groups in the
area. He said that whenever fighting breaks out in the area the SPLM’s
first response is to falsely the blame the SPLM-DC.
Akol hails from the Shilluk ethnic group from Upper Nile, which shares
a border with North Sudan. In 1991, he was one of a group of SPLA
generals that split from the mainstream of the movement in a failed
attempt to oust its leader, the late John Garang. Along with most of
the other generals involved, including South Sudan’s current vice
president Riek Machar, Akol later rejoined the SPLM/A ahead of the
CPA.
The attacks that struck Malakal on Saturday, Akol claimed, were a
reaction to previous SPLA attacks on militias in the area.
Akol said that the people in Malakal are well armed to protect
themselves and their property. The SPLA, he claimed, had provided the
same militias with weapons and logistics but after they clashed with
the SPLA earlier this month the militias had responded.
He noted that when negotiations are held in Upper Nile with the areas
militias the SPLM-DC is not involved, indicating that they are not
related to the groups.
“We are just political party without military wing let SPLM take
serious note of this statement.”
The SPLM/A have claimed that a militia leader called Oliny carried out
the attack on Malakal and that he was loyal to Lam Akol. Both the
SPLM-DC and Akol have denied knowledge of Oliny.
“I am not aware of such person, me as a person and as a party I have
no idea of Oliny”, said Akol.
Amun, who is also the minister for peace and CPA implementation in the
southern government said that Akol was attempting to destabalise South
Sudan ahead of its independence on July 9.
However, Akol said those making such accusations “have personal agenda”.
“We in SPLM-DC need Southern Sudan to get peaceful independence”, he said.
Since the signing of the CPA in Kenya, in 2005, Malakal town has
remained a point for clashes between the SPLA/M and forces who were
aligned to Khartoum during the civil war. In February clashes occured
between elements of the Joint Integrated Units (JIU), which consist of
both SPLA and Khartoum’s Sudan Armed Forces (SAF).
As the South approaches independence the units, established as part of
the CPA, are in the process of being dispanded. February’s fighting
was triggered by an internal dispute between the SAF aligned militia
of a JIU in Malakal after some soldiers refused orders to move north
with their weapons.
The leader of that militia, Gabriel Tanginya (Tang) had agreed to
integrate his forces into the SPLA late last year but by the time of
the incident this had not materialized on the ground.
Akol told Sudan Tribune that the problems in Malakal had begun long
before SPLM-DC was established in June 2009. In 2006 and 2008 fighting
between the SPLA and Tanginya’s forces in Malakal resulted in over 300
deaths.
The “only solution”, the SPLM-DC leader said was for the SPLM as the
South’s ruling party to take responsibility for the violence and find
ways to prevent further conflict.
“Those who cause incidents in Malakal have direct contact with SPLA
and SPLM in the region.”
South Sudan’s government is currently reviewing its constitution to
prepare itself for its official declaration of independent on July 9,
2011. Various South Sudanese political parties have pulled out of the
review process, including SPLM-DC, accusing SPLM, the dominant of
South Sudan government ruling for imposing their preferences into the
new constitution.
Akol said that the constitutional review was not giving equal voice to
other parties and would not help South Sudan’s citizens “because it is
one party working on constitution review.”
An independent South Sudan, he said, should not be ruled by one
political party with laws imposed upon them by the SPLM alone.
“The SPLM does not want people to contribute in [the] constitutional
review. [The] SPLM just need other parties to bless what they have
done. We have left them and let us see what they will do with
constitution”.
Future of SPLM-DC after independence
Other Southern Sudanese political parties have already relocated their
offices to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, but SPLM-DC still
operates out of a headquarters in Khartoum. After independence in
July, Southern Sudanese in the north are likely to lose their
citizenship rights – citizenship is one of the many independence
issues the two parties are yet to agree on.
Akol said that after the independence of South Sudan, “we are going to
move SPLM-DC headquarters to South Sudan”. He said that despite being
based in Khartoum SPLM-DC are organized at all levels of South Sudan’s
communities.
“The independence of South Sudan is important to SPLM-DC and our South
Sudan independence flag will be raise up by South Sudan president
Salva Kiir Mayardit with leader of opposition parties in Southern
Sudan Legislative Assembly” Akol said.
(ST)
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