Dr. Lam Akol says he trusts SPLM-IO more than SPLM-IG or even SSOA

JUBA – South Sudan prominent opposition leader and Secretary-General of South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin has said that he trusts the country’s main armed opposition group, SPLM-IO led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny, more than the SPLM-IG under President Salva Kiir Mayardit or even the SSOA to which he belongs.

“We trust them (SPLM-IO) more than the IG or even SSOA to implement the Agreement regarding the issues related to Chollo case. They pledged themselves to appoint an Ochoollo to be Governor and this will give confidence to our people in the PoCs and in the refugee camps to go back to their ancestral homes,” he said during the funeral of Ustaz Peter Gwang Akic.

“The IO has kept its word as far as the Chollo community is concerned. Whether or not the one chosen is the right candidate it is none of our business, the public. It concerns members of IO only. Whoever they bring, especially that he is an Achoollo must be welcomed by Chollo. What we need to do is to work with him to ensure that he fulfills what has been agreed upon,” he said.

The prominent opposition figure in the South Sudanese politics urged the Chollo people to accept the newly-appointed SPLM-IO-nominated governor saying the revitalized peace agreement has achieved some of the aspirations of the Chollo people and more importantly the issue of Malakal which was taken from Chollo following the establishment of the defunct 28 states in October 2016.

“After a very hard and tough political and diplomatic struggle the following gains were achieved for Chollo in the Agreement: The TBC produced the map of Southern Sudan as it was on 1/1/1956 with the boundaries of Chollo land clearly shown. The country has reverted back to the 10 States. This took Upper Nile back with its capital in Malakal on the map. The Governor of Upper Nile State went to SPLM/A-IO and allocated to an Ochoollo,” he said.

“If we initiate a war over whether or not we like the appointed Governor, we will definitely lose these gains and nobody in the world who helped us get at least the first two gains above will ever take us seriously again. And nothing short of a total military victory over the regime in Juba can get them back. This would be an irresponsible gamble. Get me right: I am not saying that the implementation of the Peace Agreement is fine or that there are no evil quarters bent on starting a war. What I am saying is that it should not be started by Chollo,” he added.

Akol who is also the chairperson of the National Democratic Movement (NDM) said the SSOA and his NDM does not have any role as per the agreement to appoint  saying “the agreement was based on political representation, not tribal allocation. But there is somewhere the two intersect.

“Parties to the Peace Agreement are 5: ITGONU, SPLM/A-IO, SSOA, OPP and FDs. On the allocation of positions in the States, it is only the first 4 that are involved. It took a long joint struggle to get the Governor of Upper Nile State to the IO.

“The IG knowing that they cannot get it (because they took Unity State) wanted it to go to SSOA (so that they take it from SSOA later as we have seen when they recently took the Deputy Governor position). In April, the Presidency issued a resolution in which Upper Nile went to SSOA.

“We fought against that on the grounds that the Agreement does not give the Presidency the power to allocate States. We the Opposition won that fight and Upper Nile went to IO in June. Then the SPLM/A-IO made a nomination which was rejected by the President.

“The Agreement does not give him that right, so we again joined in the fight against that. This tug-of-war went on for 7 months. In the meantime, our people in Malakal were being killed on a daily basis with impunity. About two weeks ago, IO carried out internal debate among themselves and decided to break the deadlock the result of which was the nomination of a new person from IO and an Chollo on Thursday and he was appointed on Friday.

“If the nomination was made by IG we would have rejected that since it was the right of the IO to nominate. But since it was made by the IO we have no right to object since it was their prerogative given them by the Agreement.”