Former SPLM officials who were held in detention hold press conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia amid peace talks. The ruling party is deeply split., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
TUESDAY 11 MARCH 2014
South Sudan rebels deny forming ‘interim cabinet’
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
March 10, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) - Chief negotiator of the SPLM/A-In-Opposition, Taban Deng Gai, on Tuesday dismissed reports alleging that South Sudanese rebel leader, Riek Machar has formed an interim government-in-waiting under his leadership.
In a press statement extended to Sudan Tribune Monday, Gai downplayed the reports which were recently disseminated in South Sudanese online discussion forum.
According to the rebel top negotiator, the intention was to tarnish the image of the SPLM-In-Opposition group and its leader Machar.
He blamed President Salva Kiir’s government and his "die-hard supporters" of intentionally circulating those "fabricated" information as part of their attempts to discredit the ongoing revolution that has erupted on mid December.
"The intention of the regime is ostensibly to upset the spirit of the growing number of our supporters, especially from the Greater Equatoria and Greater Bahr-el-Ghazal regions," said Gai.
The alleged ’interim cabinet’ named 21 ministerial post holders’ which is same number to that of the current cabinet.
Rebels said the fabricated would-be cabinet is said to comprise mainly of Nuer ethnicity to give it a tribal tone.
"This is of course false and mere smear politicking," said Gai.
He said some people who received this email, have began to show sign of despair and to lose hope but he called up on South Sudanese not to be misled by what he said were cheap propaganda.
The SPLM/A-In-Opposition "hereby assures its body of sympathizers and the entire citizenry of South Sudan that it has not even met officially to form any movement structures, as it is giving the ongoing peace talks mediated by IGAD a chance," he stated.
The rebel official further stressed they believes strongly in democracy and that the SPLM-In Opposition leader Riek Machar Teny "would not be falling into the same cheap and undemocratic methods of Salva Kiir of ruling by decrees".
Gai, however, expressed the group’s willingness to sign the Declaration of Principles in the peace talks, which includes a provision for a popularly-elected interim government.
"We are, therefore, aware that forming any government at this early stage is ambitious and unwarranted," he added.
Other members of the rebel group in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, told Sudan Tribune that the next government will be formed by all South Sudan political parties will be part of the interim arrangement.
The rebels said they are looking for democracy and equal participation of all political parties in determining the future of South Sudan where fundamental principles of human rights, justice, equality and prosperity for all is guarantee.
(ST)
TUESDAY 11 MARCH 2014
Thousands attend SPLM rally in S. Sudan’s Yambio
March 10, 2014 (JUBA) – Thousands of people attended a rally on Saturday organised by the Youth League of South Sudan’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the Western Equatoria state capital, Yambio, calling for peace and unity.
The rally was led by a delegation that included deputy speaker of the national legislative assembly, Daniel Awet Akot, and three top party members of the political bureau.
Youth League chairman Akol Paul Kordit called on youth to reject tribalism and unite under the umbrella of peace and unity.
The youth leader also blasted the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) for interfering in the country’s internal affairs and accusing the body of smuggling arms to rebel forces.
In a well-received speech, Kordit called for youth to avoid hart words and tune for tribalism within the society of South Sudanese.
He also cautioned the UN to be more careful in its handling of sensitive matters in the country, calling on the body to respect the sovereignty of South Sudan.
“Those dying in South Sudan are not white people, they are black people from South Sudan – we are the nation, although we are very poor nation, you [must] respect [our] sovereignty,” he said.
An estimated 10,000 people have been killed and close to a million people displaced after political tensions erupted in violence in mid-December. The conflict has pitted forces loyal to the Salva Kiir-led government against rebels aligned with former vice-president Riek Machar, who was removed from his position in July last year.
Kordit urged South Sudanese youth not to get caught up in the cycle of war, saying that while rebel leaders sent their families abroad, the country’s poor were left to bear the brunt of the suffering.
“Do not allow yourself to join [a] war because [of] those people. The leaders of [the] rebellion [do] not have their children or women present in South Sudan to suffer with you – they are fighting [the] government and poor families such as children and women in South Sudan are suffering here and the rebellion leaders send their children and women outside the country for a better life,” he said.
“Our mothers, children, elderly people and youth are seeking for development and not war without objective – we need education, health and agriculture and not war,” Kordit continued to wild applause and cheers from the crowd.
He described Machar as “a master of messes”, accusing the rebel leader of being involved in a cycle of killings since 1991.
“Our public in rural villages of South Sudan are thinking where to get a meal for a day, not who to kill per day like comrade Riek Machar, [who] has chosen to killing innocent people without reason,” he said.
State SPLM chairperson Jemma Nunu Kumba and governor Joseph Bakasero were also in the attendance at the rally, which was held as a show of support for the elected government and to help promote harmony within the communities of Western Equatoria.
(ST)
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