Amum vows to reunite divided SPLM, end South Sudanese war
Article
Comments (0)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
facebook
myspace
twitter
buzzyahoo
June 24, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudanese ruling (SPLM) party’s newly
reinstated secretary general, Pagan Amum, vowed on Tuesday to reunite
the fractured former guerrilla movement whose internal power struggle
and debate over reform agenda ignited the 18-month long conflict in
the world’s youngest nation.
JPEG - 12.5 kb
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir (R) and Pagan Amum attend a meeting
at the national palace in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in (Photo
credit:AU)
Speaking to reporters after taking oath of office after being
reinstated to the position by president Salva Kiir who dismissed him
two and half years ago, Amum also revealed that the former
vice-president and current armed opposition leader Riek Machar was
also reinstated, at least in theory, as the first deputy chairman of
SPLM.
Amum who said he was a “born again’ politician after the reinstatement
by president Kiir, said he would now take up the business of
reunifying the divided party.
“And from now, it is going to [be] business of uniting the SPLM, from
now, it is a business of proceeding to stop this war and bring peace
to our country so that we can rebuild South Sudan, improve and change
tarnished image of South Sudan and (of) the SPLM,” Amum said.
The oratory South Sudanese politician was in February 2013 fired by
president Kiir, who is also the chairman of SPLM, at the peak of power
struggle in the party. The decision was revoked during an emergency
meeting of the party’s National Liberation Council (NLC) on Tuesday
and Amum was sworn in to the office few hours later.
The NLC decision was reached after president Kiir reportedly agreed to
implement the Arusha SPLM roadmap reunification agreement signed in
January 2015. The agreement also caters for reforms in the party.
According to the deal, brokered by ruling parties of Tanzania and
South Africa, Riek Machar would be reinstated as first deputy chairman
of the SPLM.
Machar has not sent any delegate to Juba to pursue the implementation,
citing security concerns, according to his spokesman. This week
bilateral talks between his faction and the government’s SPLM faction
will resume in Arusha.
Amum said with his swearing in to the office, he will now shoulder the
responsibility to reunite the party, end the war and pave way for
badly needed services delivery to South Sudanese.
“And united, work to make the dream of all our martyrs, on the top of
whom our founding father and visionary leader Dr. John Garang de
Mabior; make his dream come true; the dream of peaceful, free and
prosperous South Sudan,” Amum said.
The resumption of SPLM influential post by Amum triggered mixed
reactions among South Sudanese. Some criticized president Kiir for
rewarding rebellion with top public position and others rebuked him
for causing the death of innocent civilians when he will not stand his
ground.
For the last one year after the crisis, Amum, who declared to contest
for chairmanship position against Kiir in 2013, had been calling for
removal of the president from power, saying an interim government
should be handed over to none of the two rival leaders, including
Machar.
AMUM IN KENYA
Amum arrived in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday in
preparation for his new role as government’s official.
Sources told Sudan Tribune that he was preparing for a meeting between
president Kiir and opposition leader, Riek Machar on the Addis Ababa
peace process, which is expected to take place on Thursday under the
auspices of president Uhuru Kenyatta.
He will also make preparations for delegation of SPLM in government to
travel to Arusha to meet with the SPLM-IO delegates.
Rebel leader Machar on Monday also met president Kenyatta at the State
House and discussed a way forward in the peace process.
(ST)
--
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/southsudankob
View this message at
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/southsudankob/topic-id/message-id
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"South Sudan Info - The Kob" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14orc7ByPBsvwz0x9xCjhyJb5-Kc6gGdyCMgjSibB3_diUQ%40mail.gmail.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
