Machar names new head for SPLM-IO youth wing

JUBA – South Sudan’s First Vice President and leader of the main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), Dr. Riek Machar Teny, has this afternoon named a new chairperson for his group’s youth wing, the SPLM-IO Youth League.

The position has been vacant since oil minister Puot Kang Chuol stepped down from the helm earlier this year after exceeding the age of 35. Chuol has also been facing criticisms from members of the SPLM-IO youth body for failing to carry on reforms that are needed to advance the cause of the group.

In a statement reconstituting leaders of the SPLM-IO National Committees, Machar named Jackson Wani as the new Chairperson of the SPLM-IO National Youth League effective March 23^rd.

Wani has been an active member of the group who, prior to his appointment as the leader of the group’s youth wing, served as the league’s secretary-general and has been praised by fellow SPLM-IO members for hard word despite failures of his predecessor.

In separate orders, the South Sudanese prominent opposition leader reinstate Gai Mayen Luke, a member of the Revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly representing the main armed opposition group, as the chairperson of the SPLM-IO National Students’ League

He also reappointed John Jooyul Yoal as the chair of the SPLM-IO’s Veterans League.