June 2nd 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – Ongoing process by president Salva Kiir’s ruling SPLM faction to reunite the fractured party is not genuine and undermines the Arusha reunification agreement, a senior opposition official allied to the country’s former First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar said on Saturday.
President Salva Kiir in March announced the reunification of the SPLM and gave Machar along with other exiled party leader a 30-month ultimatum to return to the country to take up positions they left behind following the outbreak of civil war in December 2013.
Last week, Kiir appointed Rebecca Garang to spearhead the reunification process raising possibility that the main armed opposition faction led by Machar would be left out of the process. SPLM secretary-general Pagan Amum also said he has given up role as leader of former detainees because of the ongoing unilateral process.
In a statement to the Nyamilepedia on Saturday, former SPLM-IO governor of Sobat state, Duer Tut Duer said the ongoing process by President Salva Kiir Mayardiit and other SPLM leaders undermines the Arusha reunification accords and that it is not genuine.
“What is happening in Juba with regards to the reunification of SPLM is not genuine, many meetings has been organized in Juba and Kampala to process the reunification of SPLM factions, SPLM-IO has never been part of those meetings,” Duer said.
“Without giving more details, in fact the Arusha Agreement stipulates the formation of a tripartite committee to work out the reunification process or steps and that the reunification shall take place after the implementation of the peace Agreement, that is to say after the formation of TGoNU,” he added.
