Opposition lawmakers prevented from organizing press conference at parliament premise

JUBA – South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS) on Monday disrupted a press conference organized by a group of opposition lawmakers belonging to the opposition with journalists being dispersed or not allowed to enter parliamentary premise, a lawmaker has said.

The lawmakers are mainly from the main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), Other Political Parties (OPP), as well as other opposition parties.

One lawmaker who speaks to Sudans Post on the condition of anonymity said the lawmakers were organizing the press conference to speak in order to condemn the continuation of parliamentary sittings in their absence.

“Well we organized that press conference in order for us to condemn the SPLM-IG because it has shown the people of South Sudan that it cannot dialogue its rivals in the SPLM-IO for a genuine dialogue that can move our country forward by continuing to hold sessions when all the opposition groups who are represented in parliament have moved out,” the lawmaker said.

“But when we are about to do that press conference, the state security came in and disrupted it and warned us against organizing conferences without getting a license from them and they prevented journalists from entering here and dispersed the one who were already here, so this what took place on Monday and it is not a good gesture for this institution,” the official added.

The young opposition lawmaker further condemned the “government attempts to limit the political space to its members and sycophants who only sing songs praising the SPLM-IG, but we will not give up in getting the rights of our people because we are here representing our people.”

A Sudans Post journalist confirmed the incident and said that he was among the journalists invited, but were “blocked by security officers” from entering to cover the event.