South Sudan First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny was on Wednesday ousted from Sudan People Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) top leadership by a splinter group in Juba.
SPLM-IO National Liberation Council Meeting Ambassador Stephen Par Kuol was appointed as Interim Chairperson of SPLM-IO to act until Dr. Machar is released from House arrest.
Also, the members at the meeting nominated Losuba Ludoru Wongo as Deputy Chairperson and Agok Makur Kur as secretary General of SPLM-IO replacing Oyet Nathaniel and Reginal Kaba respectively, all who are outside the country.
After the arrest of Dr. Machar, SPLM/A-IO became divided into two, the group in Juba and those who ran to other countries as well as into the bushes of South Sudan.
In political curve on Wednesday, a group in Juba headed by four prominent SPLM/A members including peace Ministry convened a National Liberation council consultative meeting, an event that ousted Dr. Machar.
After the meeting attending by hundreds of SPLM/A-IO members, the meeting resolved nomination of Interim chairperson of the SPLM/A-IO until Dr. Machar is released to Assume his full duties.
“The National Liberation Council Nominated and approved the following leaders to lead the party at this juncture until the SPLM/A-IO chairman Dr. Riek Machar is released. They are as follows; Ambassador Stephen Par Kuol as Interim Chairperson of SPLM-IO, Hon Losuba Ludoru Wongo as Deputy Chairperson, Hon Agok Makur Kur as secretary General of SPLM-IO” the communique partly read.
The group however called for immediate release of Dr. Machar in order to pave way for the implementation of the 2018 peace agreement
This declaration comes less than a month after the SPLM-IO’s leader, First Vice President Riek Machar, was placed under house arrest by President Salva Kiir Mayardit following heightened tensions in some part of the country.
Reading the communique during the meeting Stephen ParKuol the now Interim Chairperson further stated that his group had “delinked” itself Nathaniel Oyet who has been claiming to be acting as the interim chairman while outside the country.
“We, the SPLM IO, delink ourselves from Hon. Nathaniel Oyet Pierino and henceforth resolve to treat him as former Deputy Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of SPLM/A IO,” Par said in the statement.
Par, who himself was suspended earlier this week by Oyet for allegedly plotting to oust Machar, explained that the decision to remove Oyet was due to his absence from the capital. He asserted that Juba is the headquarters of the SPLM-IO and that the party could not be directed by what he described as a “self-exiled” leader.
“This decision is informed by the fact that the headquarters of SPLM/A IO is Juba since the forming of the government of the R-ARCSS,” Par stated.
“Therefore, the SPLM/A IO, which is part and parcel of the national unity government, cannot be led or take orders from a self-exiled leader. Party and government decisions are always taken where the seat of the party and/or government is established and not via remote,” he added.
The SPLM-IO is a key signatory to the revitalized peace agreement signed in September 2018 by President Kiir and Machar. Since 2020, the SPLM-IO has operated from Juba, where its national secretariat is located.
