UDRM quits opposition consortium over alleged Pagan Amum influence

NAIROBI – A simmering dispute within South Sudan’s opposition erupted into the open on Tuesday as the United Democratic Revolutionary Movement (UDRM) led by Deng Vanang announced its withdrawal from the South Sudan United National Alliance (SSUNA).

Vanang accused SSUNA leader General Stephen Buay Rolnyang of acting under the undue influence of Pagan Amum, leader of the opposition Real-SPLM.

The UDRM had been participating in the ongoing Nairobi peace talks as part of the SSUNA alliance. However, on June 5, 2024, Vanang wrote to Buay informing him of the UDRM’s decision to quit.

Vanang claims his group’s ideas for achieving lasting peace in South Sudan are being disregarded by SSUNA leadership.

The Nilotia Peoples’ Movement (NPM) led by General Peter Chuol Gatluak, another non-signatory to the revitalized peace agreement, also informed Buay of their withdrawal from SSUNA on the same day.

In an interview with Sudans Post on Tuesday, Vanang blamed Pagan Amum, who leads another opposition alliance (SSOMA), for their departure. Vanang alleges that Pagan has been pressuring SSUNA to expel the UDRM since the talks began in early May.

“The one influencing our move is none other than General Pagan Amum Okiech. He influenced SSUNA chairman General Buay to expel us right from the beginning of the talks on 9th May. Which we had resisted through pursuit of dialogue and diplomacy to no avail,” Vanang explained.

Vanang claims he opted for a peaceful withdrawal to avoid public disagreements that could embarrass South Sudan during the internationally mediated talks. He further accused Pagan of hypocrisy, urging them to leave the talks entirely while simultaneously inviting other non-signatory groups to join.

“Seeing matters progressively moving from bad to worse, we humbly and peacefully decided to call it quits, otherwise it could be a national embarrassment for Kenyan Mediators and foreign observers seeing us South Sudanese quarreling in front of them,” Vanang said.

“After doing the most honorable thing of calling it quits, Pagan further stepped up his pressure on us through General Buay to make us leave the talks venue altogether, while he, Malong and Buay are hypocritically on top gear inviting other holdout groups to the talks they think are more worthier than us,” he added.

Vanang expressed concerns about the inclusivity of the peace process, suggesting favoritism towards certain opposition groups.

“This raises grave concerns about the genuineness of the peace process itself. For it is never heard of globally in the history of peace mediations a kind of peace that needs some and excludes the rest. In another word, South Sudan High Level Mediation in Kenya has got its owners to choose who among South Sudanese should be there,” he added.

He further accused Pagan of promoting a divisive narrative, claiming Pagan believes too many Nuer-led opposition groups are present. Vanang fears this perception could jeopardize future peace agreements.

“Our ongoing expulsion has even got a tribal element in it. Pagan allegedly claimed that Nuer rebel movements are too many at the talks,” Vanang said.

“In his mediocre rationale, he reduced the future peace agreement to sharing of the national cake out of which Nuers shall bite a bigger chunk than others; rather than the popular quest to end the psychologically disturbing conflict in South Sudan for the common good,” he added.

Vanang also criticized a proposal by Pagan and another opposition leader, Paul Malong Awan, that reportedly calls for the removal of President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, while offering amnesty for themselves and proposing the creation of a prime minister position, presumably for Pagan.

“People can now nakedly read between the lines as to why that group in their peace proposal proposed continuous sharing of top cream positions in a yet again to be established transitional government among SPLM factions exclusively including Pagan himself for the post of Prime Minister and why he Pagan and Malong suggested in their controversial proposal to consign President Kiir and First Vice President Machar to involuntary retirement due to alleged war crimes, while they themselves the publicly known instigators of such wanton crimes choose to let themselves off the hook,” Vanang said.

The UDRM, formerly part of SSOMA, was invited to participate in the talks under the SSUNA umbrella on May 9^th.

They had distanced themselves from SSOMA’s leadership split between Pagan and General Thomas Cirilo Swaka of the National Salvation Front (NAS) faction, but ultimately left Cirilo’s group before the Nairobi talks commenced.