Former governor of Warrap state and co-founder of JCE joins Malong

May 20th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s former governor of Warrap state, Lewis Anei Madut has declared to join the armed opposition group under the leadership of the former SPLA chief of staff Gen. Paul Malong Awan Anei one day after his resignation as the country’s National Ministerial Advisor on Youth Culture and Sport.

The former ministerial advisor and the founding leader of the Republican Party of South Sudan cited mismanagement of the nation by the ruling SPLM party as one of the reasons  that let him to defect from the administration which he urged the people to take up arms against.

“Yes, my dear people, you all know how leasders of the ruling SPLM Party begin to mismanage the young nation, how they instituted corruption and how they broke up along personal and tribal lines rather than ideologiocal and political lines thereby bringing the uncalled for suffering on the innocent masses upon whom they swore to mismanage and kill,” he said in a declaration letter seen by the Nyamilepedia.

The high-ranking former government official claimed that he has been trying hard to change the situatiopn peacefully but to only end in vain given the the division of the SPLM leaders on “personal and tribal lines” saying while he is peacefully trying to change the situation, the suffering increased every now and then.

“We tried to use the peaceful means to correct the situhation internally, but we found out that the grip of the misrule continued to deepen upon the nation every day, every month, every year , that [some] one has to decide to look into the concept of removing his misrule, this unnecessary violence, this lawlessness and this nationwide tribal animosities,” he said.

He said, as he declared himself to join Malong, that he is now left with no other choice than joining the armed struggle to correct the peaceful means that have done nothing for a very long time.

“As results I have now decided to temporlally postpone my principle of nonviolent the principle of bringing change through through peaceful democratic means and had to come to assist the South Sudan United Front/Army on its talking wing” he said.

The former government official is the co-founder previously the Secretary General of the Jieng Council of Elders (JCE), a tribal entity working as an advisory council to the country’s president Salva Kiir Mayardiit, before he resigned from it.

He called for a united opposition under the leadership of the coutry’s former army chief of staff Gen. Paul malong Awan.

“As I join the armed opposition, I wish to call upon all our youths and all our South Sudanese people in the various opposition movements to unite under South Sudan United Front so as to be able to quickly stop the suffering of our people and bring the kind of national unity we want,” he said.

President Salva Kiir removed Gen. Paul Malong in May 2017 reportedly after the country’s head of the National Security Services Gen. Akol Kor advised Kiir to remove the powerful army chief after allegedly uncovering a coup plan by Malong who later denied the allegation.

Malong then fled Juba in protest of the dismissal heading towards his hometown Aweil but was forcefully returned to the capital Juba from Yirol and was subsequently put under house arrest by the South Sudanese leader until the Jieng Council of Elders successfully advised Kiir to release him on health grounds in November 2017.

Malong went to Nairobi and few days later the government made public audio tapes portraying Malong ordering his loyalists in the SPLA to attack Juba and Wau but Malong denied and accused the national security of falsely tarnishing his image.

However, in March 2018, Malong formed his own movement accusing president Salva Kiir of looting the country to Bankruptcy.

South Sudan descended into civil war in December 2013 after forces loyal to the country’s president, Salva Kiir Mayardiit and his then Governor of Northern Bahr Al-Ghazal State Gen. Paul Malong Awan went door-to-door in the capital Juba killing civilians belonging to the Nuer ethnic group sparking a nation-wide protests from top army generals from the Nuer leading to a civil war.

A peace agreement signed in August 2015 by President Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar and negotiated under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Union (AU) in presence of Troika and other international observers collapsed in July 2016 following fighting at the presidential palace in Juba “J1” reportedly after President Kiir ordered a failed attempt to arrest the SPLM-IO leader Riek Machar.

Late last year, the IGAD decided to revive the peace agreement and had initiated a peace revival mechanism known as the High-Level Revitalization Forum (HLRF) to bring back to life the 2015 peace agreement. Previous rounds of the HLRF has been unsuccessful and the IGAD said it expect the warring parties to negotiate on the last round of talks which commenced on Thursday.

The IGAD has given the negotiating parties May 21st as the ultimatum to sign a peace deal. But it is not clear what would be the consequences in case the warring parties do not meet the dateline.