Machar’s group calls for deployment of peace forces to protect rights

JUBA, JUNE 26, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – South Sudan’s opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by First Vice President Riek Machar is calling for the deployment of unified forces to protect civilians and guarantee free civic space.

Speaking to Sudans Post yesterday, senior SPLM-IO member and Chairperson of Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State Dut Majokdit said SPLM-IO officials in the states are being harassed and there is need for unified forces to be deployed to protect them.

“Since the formation of the government in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state Aweil, there has never been a month that no one from the SPLM-IO is harassed by security forces. We are being harassed day and night by the national security and the SPLM-IG-allied forces,” he said.

“In order for us to avoid this, there is need to deploy the necessary unified forces to protect the civic space because the current forces are forces that belong to a political party. They are forces belonging to the SPLM-IG and that’s why we can’t trust them,” he said.

The senior opposition official further reiterated his group’s commitment to the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement but said that actions of the ruling SPLM faction are meant to derail the implementation process which he said will not find a ground.

“Their aim is to divert attention from the implementation process of the revitalized peace agreement, but we will not give them the chance. We are committed to this peace agreement from day one and as such we will allow them to spoil it,” he said.