Opposition leader Lam Akol to return to Juba tomorrow after 3-year absence

JUBA, JULY 30, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – South Sudan opposition leader Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin will return to the country’s capital Juba on Monday after being away for three years, a senior opposition official allied to him said.

In an email to Sudans Post this morning, the National Democratic Movement (NDM) spokesman Mahmoud Akot said Akol will arrive from Kenyan capital Nairobi at 7:20AM.

“I would like to inform your reputed news agency, that Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin, Chairman of NDM, will come to Juba tomorrow morning, 31 July 2023, at 7:20AM from Kenya,” Akot said.

“We invite you to join us at Juba International Airport tomorrow morning, Monday. Time: 7:20 AM,” he added.

Akol who is the leader of the opposition NDM last left Juba in July 2020, for the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

He relocated to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa following the outbreak of the Sudanese conflict in April this year.

Akol’s return to Juba comes as the country – still reeling from the effect of the deadly civil war fought between 2013 and 2018 – prepares for its first democratic elections since independence from Sudan in July 2011.

Despite the 2018 revitalized peace agreement, there is growing political instability yet again and the economy is in shambles with soaring inflation.

Akol last served in South Sudan as the country’s agriculture minister and a key figure in the country’s political landscape.