![South Sudan's then newly removed FVP Dr. Riek Machar Teny speaks during a meeting of the SPLM-IO political bureau in Khartoum, Sudan. [Photo by SUNA]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Riek_Machar.jpg?resize=1024%2C512&ssl=1)
In a statement over the weekend, the group said they “joined with intention to improve the situation of our people, but we found that the party lacks vision and it is only controlled by one man and we don’t have any interest to remain there.”
They said that they have “decided to return to the mother SPLM party because it is the only party in which the citizens are seeing hope because these rebel groups don’t have anything to offer to the people of South Sudan.”
The defection comes as mass exodus from the SPLM-IO has continued. Last month, a group of senior military officers led by the former SPLA-IO Sector Two Commander Gen. Simon Maguek Gai announced their defection to President Salva Kiir in Unity State.
Two weeks ago, the SPLM-IO Sector three commander General Stephen Wal Nyak announced his defection from the Machar-led movement to Kiir’s party and accused the opposition leader of promoting his relatives.
Yesterday, a team of 20 youth members from the SPLM-IO defected to the SPLM under Kiir. While they praised Kiir as a “champion of peace”, the group did not give reasons for their defection from the main armed opposition group.
SPLM-IO DISOWN NORTHERN BAHR EL GHAZAL DEFECTION
But the main armed opposition’s leader in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State Angelina Aweng Abraham told Sudans Post that the defection of the group will not have any impact on the group in the northern most state and that any member of the group is free to choose which party to belong.
“What I am saying is that SPLM-IO is not a dictatorship where citizens are forced to stay even when they don’t want that. We believe that every citizen has the right to chose where to go and this is why we are known for democratic way of doing things,” she told Sudans Post.
“Anyone who thinks that their defection will have impact on the SPLM-IO in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, Aweil, is wrong. We will continue with our project of change, and we will do more when the elections come and this is when we will be able to know who is who in the country to the citizens,” she added.
