CEPO worried by escalation between SPLM-IG, SPLM-IO in Northern Bahr el Ghazal

JUBA, JUNE 25, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – The Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) has expressed concerns over the political escalation between the main armed opposition SPLM-IO and the ruling SPLM-IG in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state.

This is after the SPLM-IG’s former secretary for syndicated organizations Gabriel Bol Dut was arrested by the National Security Service (NSS) after announcing that he has defected to the SPLM-IO led by First Vice President Riek Machar.

In a statement, CEPO said it condemns the escalation and urged leaders of the two signatory parties to the revitalized peace agreement to come together and abstain from political rhetoric that he said can undermine the country’s peace and security.

“CEPO strongly condemned this trend and urging the top leadership of SPLM and SPLM-Io to discipline their party members mainly at state level to abstain from political frictions,” the statement reads in part.

Edmund Yakani, CEPO’s Executive Director, said that the continued arrest of opposition officials for their political activities will lead to loss of  trust by the civil population in the conduct of elections slated for December 2024.

“As the country is increasing talking about conduct of elections by December 2024, immature politics of frictions is on raise among the SPLM and SPLM-IO further even within the same party members,” Yakani said.

“The beginning of unlawful arrest of opponent political party member or party member just due to political understanding at this moment it acts as trigger for mobilizing citizens to lose trust and confidence on the possible conduct of the national general elections including undermine the presidential declaration for year 2023 to be a year of peace, reconciliation and development during his speech of the closure of the year 2022,” he added.

“The presidential declaration of year 2023 to be year of peace, reconciliation and development is also enshrined in his opening of Transitional National Legislative Assembly in 2023 which is adopted by the parliament as national working policy, but now it is being undermined by some state officials who are commissioning unlawful arrest of individual in the face of the president declaration

“Acts of unlawful arrest, threatening and denying all constitute an act that are good in nurturing violence. The political parties’ interest for controlling or accessing power once is turning into violent frictions on the road to conduct of elections in the nearest future is dangerous.”