December 29th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – A dispute has emerged between members of the holdout opposition groups over the naming of a new alliance of the non-signatories of the revitalized peace deal, several sources have told the Nyamilepedia on Friday.
In November, several holdout opposition groups formed a new allaince and named it ‘South Sudan National Democratic Alliance’ or (SSNDA).
One source told the Nyamilepedia on Friday that the new name was rejected by the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) led by Dr. Hakim Dario and other two unnamed groups who preferred the name National Alliance for Democracy and Freedom Action (NADAFA).
“PDM didn’t want to use a name from another era, which is not communicating the message of an alternative government and connect us with the people, NDA or SSNDA is passive and carries no message to the ordinary man and woman in South Sudan,” the source close to PDM said.
“NADAFA is meaningful and has relevance to the context of what people know and understand about corruption and impunity in South Sudan and they want it ended. There is nothing more appropriate to describe that than NADAFA government. NDA was the proposal of NDM supported by NAS, and since they were not in agreement with PDM proposal, then they were entirely free to adopt a name with which they are comfortable to convey their message. There was no compulsion and PDM too was free to advocate for its original home grown vision of a NADAFA Government for the country,” the source added.
Contacted by the Nyamilepedia, the leader of the National Democratic Movement (NDM) Emmanuel Ajawin denied any knowledge about the dispute but admitted PDM is not a member of the alliance SSNDA.
“There is no dispute. We have adopted the name SSNDA unanimously since November,” he said adding that the People’s Democratic Movement “is not part of SSNDA.
