Kiir to Machar: Don’t blame me for ‘disintegration’ of your party

JUBA – South Sudan’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) led by President Salva Kiir Mayardit has  distanced itself from the defections and splits which have been taking place within the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by FVP Dr. Riek Machar Teny saying the opposition leader should not blame it for ‘disintegration’ of his party.

This comes a week after the main armed opposition group issued a number of statements accusing President Kiir’s party of standing behind the splits within the group which it said undermine the implementation process of the country’s revitalized peace agreement signed by the SPLM-IO and President Salva Kiir’s former ITGONU.

In a statement signed by its secretary-general, the SPLM party said the implementation of the agreement is going as expected and that statements attributed to individuals loyal to the ruling party and the Machar-led SPLM-IO are ‘uncalled for’ and should not be taken as coming from groups signatories of the agreement.

“First, we want to assure the people of South Sudan that the Revitalized Peace Agreement is in tack and that there is no return to war. Utterances by unauthorized individuals from all sides to such eventuality are uncalled for and regretted. Those who have been beating the drums of war for the last few days are disgruntled individuals and politicians most of whom live in Diaspora,” the statement said.

The statement distanced the SPLM from the splits and defection of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition and said defections in South Sudan are expected given that the conflict in the world’s youngest country is for power and Machar should not blame the SPLM for what it calls ‘disintegration’ of the SPLM-IO.

“Second, who is fooling who in this situation? We live in South Sudan and everyone in this country has been following with keen interest what has been happening in our country. We have been saying that the war in South Sudan is a war for power-sharing,” the statement reads in part.

“If some leaders don’t see themselves in their party as getting lucrative political positions, they defect and join another group in protest to the decision of their party leader. Dr. Riek Machar of all people knows this more than anyone and we had hoped that he would not blame the disintegration of his party on other people or political parties,” he added.

The statement said “There are leaders from SPLM who defected and joined SPLM/A-IO for possibility of greener pastures on the other side. The same is true for leaders from SPLM/A-IO and their supporters who defected and joined the SPLM.

“In 2015, for example, the majority of Generals who fought the war in 2013-2014 on the side of SPLM/A-IO defected and either established independent movements some of which are now in SSOA or joined the Government. Who incentivized their defection in 2015?” the statement asked.

The statement said most politicians made mass defection from the SPLM-IO following the signing of the revitalized peace agreement and joined the SPLM after having not been appointed into positions by the group’s leader.

“After the signature of the R-ARCSS and formation of the Revitalized Government of National Unity, mass defections from SPLM/A-IO were witnessed as a protest to the decisions of their leadership for failing to appoint them in the government positions they wanted,” the statement said.

“Who paid Dr. Riek Machar to make such decisions so that his party leaders could run in disarray from him?  Had it not been such decisions, General Simon Gatwech Dual and General Johnson Olony could not have defected and form the Kitgwang Group. And the list of defections is known and it continues,” the statement added.