FULL-TEXT: Resignation of Mabior Garang as SPLM-IO chairperson of information committee

JUBA – Mabior Garang De Mabior, the Chairperson of SPLM-IO National Committee for Information and Public Relations and former South Sudan deputy minister of interior on Thursday said he is resigning from his position in a letter addressed to First Vice President and SPLM-IO Chairman Dr. Riek Machar.

Find below the full-text resignation of Mabior!

 

To: Comrade Dr. Riek Machar
From: Cpt. Mabior Garang

Subject: Intention to resign as Chairperson of Information and Public Relations

07/10/2020

In reference to the above subject, I am writing this memo to inform your Comradeship of my intention to resign from my position of Chairperson for Information and Public Relations. It has been a great honour serving the peoples’ movement from the time I was the deputy to Comrade Hussein Maar, to the time I was officially appointed as the Chairperson. I have learned a lot.

As your senior Comradeship is aware, I have been meaning to resign since 2014 when I faced continued sabotage from the leadership, starting with the well documented conspiracy of Gen. Lulu Ruai. However, I was advised by countless Comrades – who have since resigned themselves – not to resign, as my contribution to the struggle was invaluable. I listened to the advice of these Comrades because it was valid. We therefore continued to carry out our duties diligently, even during the times we faced the greatest danger to our very lives. Undoubtedly, what we have done is part of a historical record – no need to mention the details here.

In light of the fake implementation of peace going on in Juba and our leadership’s claim that peace is being implemented and the situation is improving, I cannot with a clear conscience continue to serve in a constitutional position in the Movement. Since the High Level Revitalization Forum (HLRF) ended and the peace process moved to Khartoum, there has been no credible process. It was dead on arrival – as it were. This is the reason some groups, now negotiating in Rome, refused to sign the Agreement. It was a surrender in disguise.

That the peace we are pretending to implement in Juba is mischief, has been clear to many of us from the start. We even suspected that some of our Comrades in the National Pre-transition Committee (NPTC) had been compromised by the regime. These Comrades succeeded in silencing the National Committee for Information and Public Relations and labeled anyone who had opposing views as peace spoilers. There has been no credible information from the Movement, with the military Spokesman being the only one making any real statements.

The members of our Movement and the public at large will wonder what is happening and why I am holding a position in their name yet I am not doing their work. I am unable to explain to the people why we are quiet as our citizens are being murdered in Tonj by their own army during peace time. We are quiet in the face of rampant intercommunal violence evidently supported by the government. We have failed to even bring the lack of implementation to the attention of the public. Instead, we are lying to the people saying that “peace is moving on well”.

Your Comradeship,

I continue to suffer from the same crisis of conscience which made me resign from the so-called unity government. For this reason, I cannot lie to myself that we are implementing an agreement when we are not. I intend to resign only as the National Chairperson for Information and Public Relations and not as a founding member of the Movement. I shall remain as an ordinary member of the party until such a time the Movement has returned to the business of the peoples’ struggle. I will be ready to take up any assignment when there is call for it.

There are many ways for citizens to participate in peace building and I intend to pursue these avenues. The struggle of our peoples is not the preserve of the SPLM (IO) nor of the SPLM (IG) – which are the same SPLM. I encourage my Comrades who remain in the political leadership to do some soul searching and return to the thankless work of freedom or risk becoming irrelevant. I will be offering my official resignation as National Chairperson for Information and Public Relations not too long after this memo.

A luta continua!

Signed:

Cpt. Mabior Garang
National Chairperson for Information and Public Relations
SPLM/SPLA (IO).