March 6th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan President, Salva Kiir Mayardiit, on Tuesday said the ruling SPLM party which split into different rival groups in December 2013 caused the suffering of the South Sudanese people.
Kiir who also apologized for what he said was his responsibility as leader of the party he leads was speaking during a peace rally in Western Bahr Al-Ghazal state capital Wau on Tuesday following his return from Juba where he met Eritrean President, Isaias Afeworki, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
“You the people of Wau, I want to apologize to you, I have to apologize to you because what had happened in 2013 and 2016 is what brought you at this point of suffering and it was the SPLM that was struggling for the independence of South Sudan is the same party that went into war with itself on power struggling,” Kiir said.
He added that the civil war “is what brought you suffering and I have to accept this, as the head of state, though I did not do anything. I find myself mistaken because if it is my party that brought the problem to my people.”
Kiir further urged people of different ethnicities in Wau to work for peace and to live peacefully among themselves and their neighbors pointing to Wau’s historical status as the capital of South Sudan’s Bahr Al-Ghazal region.
“I want to tell you that Wau is our home headquarters and even though we got many states, Wau is our headquarter. I want to tell the tribes in Wau, the Luo, Jeing, Fretit and all their neighbours, you were staying in peace without fighting, I want you from now to impress in this peace,” Kiir said adding: “We have to work to reward our people with something good such that our people go back to their normal life.”
