Juba, South Sudan,
June 22, 2021 – South Sudan First Vice President and Chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) is more dictatorial than President Salva Kiir, a senior member of his party has said.
Duer Tut Duer, a former Commissioner of Ulang County and a renowned member of the SPLM-IO said Machar has should have shame in calling Mr. Kiir a dictator when both protagonists are within the same circle.
“The dictator is actually Dr. Machar, in fact, Machar is even more dictator[ial] than President Salva Kiir. You cannot claim that you want to overthrow a dictator when you are also a dictator,” he said in an interview with Sawa Sawa Network.
Duer, a staunch critic of his party’s Chairman said Machar has turned SPLM-IO into a family project and became unfit for the SPLM-IO Chairmanship and only him can be an ideal replacement.
“He [Machar] has failed the party, he turned the party into a family project and he is now unable to unify the party,” Duer said.
Asked whether he thinks anyone else within the SPLM-IO was interested in the Chairmanship Duer said: “So far there are many people [within the party] who are unhappy with his [Machar’s] style of leadership. So far I’ve been receiving support and some people from Juba have been sending me messages saying they like my work and what I’m standing for.”
Duer clarified that Machar can remain the First Vice President as that is the position assigned to him by the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan.
“Machar can still keep his useless position as the First Vice President, we don’t have a problem with that because he got that position through the peace agreement,” he said.
“But what we are concerned about is the position of Chairmanship within our party the SPLM-IO, this is what we are trying to protect,” he added.
Duer is a senior SPLM-IO member who also served as the Deputy Secretary for Finance in the SPLM National Secretariat, Chairperson of South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, Sobat State Governor, and member of the SPLM-IO National Liberation Council.
