Machar under ‘unprecedented’ political defeat — James Kok Ruea

JUBA — Former South Sudan minister of humanitarian affairs and disaster management and former governor of the defunct Fangak state James Kok Ruea is urging First Vice President and SPLM-IO leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny to ‘rethink’ for what he calls a best approach in his political carrier saying the main armed opposition leader is under unprecedented defeat.

Kok who joined Machar last year after berating Kiir for refusing to implement the peace agreement made the remarks on an interview with Sudans Post following his decision to abandon the main armed opposition group to rejoin the SPLM faction led by President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

He said First Vice President Machar is under unprecedented political defeat from his rivals and as such the powerful opposition leader needs to rethink and redraw his political path to avoid further humiliation from his rivals which he didn’t identify by name.

“First of all, this is a confirmation that I am no longer a member of the SPLM/A (IO) under Dr. Riek Machar Teny and I have a piece of advice for Dr. Riek because we don’t want to deceive one another, we need to be sincere so nobody blame anyone,” he said.

“Dr. Riek Machar of today is not Dr. Riek Machar I knew before 2013. Before that was a different story and today is a different thing for him and now he is under an unprecedented defeat and humiliation from his political rivals and that’s why he needs to redraw his political path so as to avoid more catastrophic events,” he added.

James Kok’s defection came following a decision by former military governor of the opposition Phow state and member of the Joint Transitional Security Committee (JTSC) in the SPLM-IO ticket General Kuol Gai to defect to joint the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces.

He has accused Machar of neglecting the people of Fangak state in allocation of leadership positions granted by the revitalized peace agreement to the main armed opposition group.