President Kiir Hijacked The SPLA To Build His Personal Army, Not a National Army,
Oct 27, 2019(Nyamilepedia) — Speaking over the social media, the former Secretary General of the SPLM, Pagan Amum Okiech, explains why president Kiir is opposed to security arrangement and reforms as stipulated in the peace agreement.
“This agreement is not signed to be implemented. The intention was very clear in the beginning; not to implement the peace agreement by not implementing the protocols in the peace agreement” Cde. Pagan of the Real SPLM said.
According to Cde. Pagan, Salva Kiir hijacked the ruling party, dismantled the national army and replaced it with his own tribal army that he is now trying to impose to be the national army.
The former Secretary General believes that president Kiir cannot implement the peace agreement simply because a new security arrangement contradicts what he wants to achieve in order to maintain powers and author for years to come.
“For example the security sector reforms leading to the establishment of a national army, which is non political, a national army that reflects the diversity of South Sudan. If Kiir agrees to transform the security sector, he will lose his army and South Sudan will have a national army that reflects the diversity of the whole country” Amum said.
Pagan said President Salva Kiir is opposed to democratic transformation and constitutional reforms in the country.
“Time has proven clearly that the government of president Kiir will not implement this peace agreement;
“If we go back to 2015, the current peace agreement that was revitalized was signed in 2015 and president Kiir refused to sign it and when he signed he said this peace agreement cannot be implemented, it is the worst agreement and that it is not a Quran nor a Bible” He continued.
Pagan reiterates that it is not only in 2015 that Kiir made it specifically clear that he won’t implement the peace agreement but also in 2018.
“Also when he signed this agreement, he said even though he signed this agreement, it is in fact a very bad agreement;
“So back to the question, why is president Kiir in particular against peace in South Sudan?” Amum asked.
The former SG went on to explain that Salva Kiir has obstructed the implementation of the first 8 months of the pre-transitional period and again wasted the six months extension – simply because he does not want to implement the peace deal.
“And how can we understand, what are the reasons behind president Kiir obstructing the implementation of the peace agreement as he has done now in the first 8 months of the pre-transition [of peace agreement] and also in the first extension of the pre-transitional period of six months;
“It is important for people to understand that president is essentially against peace implementation and he will never implement this peace agreement, the question is why to understand it?” Pagan Emphasized.
Amum went on to explain how President Kiir dismantled the SPLA in order to replace it with a militia that would be fully loyal to him.
“To me, we have to be very clear that president Kiir from the time he overthrew the SPLM in 2013, his plan was to establish his own army, destroy the SPLA – the liberation army which was to be transformed into the national army;
“He has obstructed the process of transforming the SPLA, right from the beginning, culminating with the total destruction of the SPLA when he introduced his own army with the like of DotKuBeny, Mathiang Anyoor and also he turned his bodyguards into a huge forces called Tiger Division and it is actually the largest force that exists now in South Sudan” Pagan further explained.
According to Pagan all these peace initiatives contradicts Kiir’s plans and as long as he is in power, he will not implement them.
“So Kiir is against peace and his interest contracts any security transformation. If Kiir agrees to transform the security sector, he will loose his army and South Sudan will have a national army that reflects the diversity of the whole country; a national army that will protect the whole country from external aggression or from any attempt to encroach the territory of South Sudan and this would be the professional army like in any country” He continued.
Asked of what could be a solution if President Kiir will never implement the peace deals, Amum believes that South Sudanese leaders may have to think of an “incentive” that shall convince President Kiir to leave power; however, he emphasized the needs of accountability stressing that President Kiir has commanded killing of over five hundred thousands(500, 000) South Sudanese within the last six years.
