Dec 1, 2016(Nyamilepedia) —— South Sudan’s former Vice President, Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of SPLM/SPLA in Opposition, Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon, has relieved and reappointed Hon. Henry D. Odwar as the Deputy Chairman and Deputy Commander in Chief of SPLM/SPLA-IO.
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According to a press release extended to Nyamilepedia Press, Dr. Machar relieved Hon, Odwar from National Committee Chairperson of Energy and Mining and reappointed him as the deputy chairman effective from today.
“Pursuant to the SPLM(IO) Constitution and Reference to the political Bureau Resolution of September 23rd 2016 on restructuring of the SPLM/SPLA(IO)) political organs, I, Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon, Chairman and Commander-in-Chief, SPLM/SPLA(IO), hereby appoints Cde Henry L. Odwar as Deputy Chairman and Deputy Commander-in-Chief, SPLM/SPLA(IO) with effect from 1st December, 2016” Reads part of Machar’s statement.
About Henry Odwar
Pursuant to this appointment, Hon. Odwar has served various portfolio in South Sudan government and also in SPLM/SPLA-IO.
Odwar served as the chairman of national committee for energy and mining in the opposition faction, a position he also served in South Sudan parliament from 2010 before defecting to SPLM/SPLA-IO on November 16, 2014.
Before returning to Juba, Odwar briefed Canada’s 41st parliament in early 2015 saying that “the peace process in Addis is likely to go nowhere for one single reason: you cannot reach a peace deal without looking into the root causes of the current conflict in South Sudan.”
Despite, Hon. Odwar accepted to return to Juba as part of the first delegation of SPLM/SPLA-IO advance team with Gen. Taban Deng Gai who has since defected to Salva Kiir’s led SPLM/SPLA-IG.
Odwar led the SPLM-IO’s team for constitutional amendment as part of the advance team in Juba.
Following resumption of the conflict in Juba in July this year, Hon. Odwar fled the capital with other senior members of SPLM/SPLA-IO and continued to serve the IO as its National Committee Chairman for Energy and Mining.
With other senior politicians, Hon. Odwar was dispatched by the chairman to North America to attend the UN General Assembly in New York and also to brief SPLM/SPLA-IO supporters in USA and Canada
He visited and briefed South Sudanese communities in many parts of US and Canada and concluded his visit in British Columbia, Canada, where he briefed many supporters on November 5th, 2016 before here returns to South Sudan.
Odwar is a Canadian scholar with master’s in geophysics from the University of Manitoba. He lived in Canada from 1984 until he returned to South Sudan after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in 2005.  He served as a member of parliament representing Constituency 9,  Ikotos County, Eastern Equatoria State.
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2 comments
Thank you Dr Riek for having been the first South Sudanese leader to recognize the unwavering contributions of the people of Eastern Equatoria to the independence of the Republic of South Sudan; suffered the brunt of the almost 50 years for the struggle for independence; and for having not only contributed in kind but also physically and morally for the same cause. Mr. Henry Dilang is an able man and competent enough to perform his tasks with dedication and commitment. While on the other hand the people of Eastern Equatoria shall solidly commit to seeing that the cause of the current struggle to oust the tyrant in Juba is fulfilled to last bit of its hilt.
Bravo!
SPLA-IO OYEE
DR. RIEK MACHAR OYEE
SOUTH SUDAN OYEE
Congratulations Hon. Henry Odwar. We have enough confident that you will deliver in this portfolio. All the best.
Deng Elijah,