This is not a mere political disagreement but a military power wrangle fitting the two SPLM-IO stalwarts namely First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny against Former SPLM-IO Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Simon Gatwech Dual two of whom are from Presbyterian Church. At the church level, Rev. James Makuei is their spiritual Leader whom they can easily grant their ears to without hesitation. Other than that, the duo hails from the Nuer community where the Moderator comes from. So, three of them are from one community which is an added advantage that will enable this disagreement to be debated and resolved once and for all.
This morning, the 7th of August, 2021, this unfortunate power struggle led to full-blown war in Upper Nile State. This violence conflict has resulted in the loss of lives and serious casualties of men of South Sudan armed forces. We greatly fear that the deadly effects of these military confrontations will cascade down to total breach of peace in our community that is yearning for return of peace.
We acknowledge that the duo are influential personalities in our country. We think that their fight will draw back the dividends of peace that we had gained as a community and the country at large. Hence, it is our wish to see them reconciled and reunited for the betterment of our fragile country. We have had enough of these military and political divisions in our country.
Since the 1980s up to 2016, SPLM/SPLA’s crack and clash have always been deadly and disastrous. Unfortunately, like the saying goes: when two bulls fight the grass suffers. At times, the victims of these continued SPLM’s push and pull political tactics ended up being the ordinary civilians.
Since the inception of this party, the SPLM leaders from across political divides have not yet mastered the arts of solving their political differences via their internal organs and institutions. Over the years, it is always other Organizations from outside that help them resolve their disagreements.
Therefore, the church being a neutral institution of peace ought to intervene timely because the church and it’s leaders are duty-bound to preach peace as clearly stipulated in the Gospel.
In view of this, we respectively petition the esteemed office of His Highness, Moderator General, Rev. James Makuei Chuol to urgently intervene and mediate the ongoing war between First vice president Dr. Riek Machar Teny and the Leader of SPLM-IO Magenis Faction, General Simon Gatwech Dual before the problem run out of hand. Finally, we hereby called on Presbytery Moderator General to reach out to them for dialogue with an aim of achieving reconciliation between these two SPLM-IO factions for the sake of expeditious implementation of peace in the country, South Sudan.
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