February 26th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – The former SPLM-IO faction led by the First Vice President, Taban Deng Gai, on Tuesday urged Gen. Gathoth Gatkuoth Hothnyang who declared himself a leader of a splinter group yesterday to stop uttering what it said were ‘anti-peace sentiments’.
On Monday, former South Sudan labor minister, Gen. Gathoth Gatkouth Hothnyang said he and others have removed FVP Taban Deng Gai from leading the SPLM-IO faction that is already in the transitional government.
Gathoth accused Taban of failing to deliver promised activities by the SPLM-IO faction which he said the group had planned to do following the appointment of Gen. Gai as the First Vice President in the aftermath of July 2016 fighting.
Speaking during a press conference held today in Juba at the office of the FVP, Agel Machar, the Press Secretary for the FVP Taban, urged the former labor minister and his associates to stop uttering negative comments against peace.
“We call upon Hon. Gathoth Gatkuoth and Hon. Otim David to stop building anti-peace sentiments which are masked under the guise of the public interest,” he said adding: “The time for confusion, political madness, division, and the risking of innocent lives and property is over.”
Machar further said the new beginning ushered in by the ongoing peace process is the only way the South Sudanese can escape the ongoing civil strife in the country calling upon Gatkouth to abandon the SPLM if they don’t think they share the same ideology.
“This new dawn for peace is the only way forward…….we encourage those who do not share the ideology of the SPLM to form their own political party,” he said adding that “they should form their own party and engage in the political process in that manner. This freedom of choice is what we have been championing.”
