April 9th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s former army chief Lt Gen Paul Malong Awan Anei has officially formed his own armed rebel movement which he said is aimed to defeat the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardiit in Juba by force.
In a press statement issued today, the 9th April, the powerful former army chief said the objective of the newly created movement, which he named South Sudan United Front (SSUF), is to arrest the “carnage” in the country and steer the nation towards democracy and development as basis of founding a nation.
“Our movement is a just and urgent call to our compatriots and struggle to first arrest the carnage that has befell our country and secondly to steer us towards democracy and development, which are cornerstones of nationhood, an African nationhood of democracy, development, equal citizenry, justice and freedom,” the statement read in part.
The statement further accused President Salva Kiir and a small clique he did not identified of of leading the country to a “total bankruptcy”
“Salva Kiir, which has inherited then leadership of our country and the SPLM upon the death of Dr. John Garang De Mabior, has concentrated all his efforts, with the help of small clique around him, to quite literally loot the coffers of our great nation to a total bankruptcy. A fact that the president himself has publicly admitted when he said “Our country is broke!” The president, Salva Kiir Mayardiit has for the last 13 years plundered the vast resources of our great country with reckless impunity.”
General Paul Malong was appointed in 2014 as the SPLA chief of general staff shortly after the onset of the South Sudan’s civil war in hope to thwart the then growing threat of advancing Machar rebels forces. In May 2017, he was dismissed as the country’s top army general and subsequently fled the nation’s capital Juba heading for his home town Aweil in protest of the dismissal when he was forcefully stopped returned form Yirol after president Salva Kiir ordered the authorities to block him from preceding to his home town in fear of rebellion. He was then placed under house arrest in the nation’s capital until late last year when he was released after the Jieng Council of Elders (JCE) advised president Salva Kiir to release him on health ground.
Last week, unconfirmed reports on the social media reveal a trip by the Sudanese Intelligence chief Salah Gosh to the Kenyan capital to meet Malong over reasons which were not revealed to the media.
