SSOA faces power rift as Lagu ousts Lual as media official

JUBA – The South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) is embroiled in a deepening power struggle, with leader Josephine Lagu removing the alliance’s media official, Stephen Lual Ngor, in an alleged unofficial meeting.

The move comes after Lual issued a statement threatening unspecified consequences following Lagu’s disavowal of his claims that the SSOA leadership didn’t ask President Salva Kiir Mayardit to replace Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi, a member of the SSOA-affiliated South Sudan Patriotic Movement (SSPM).

Lual, a member of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly representing the SSOA and spokesperson for the SSPM, was ousted following a meeting of SSOA leaders in Juba on Thursday.

The meeting, reportedly held at Lagu’s residence, took place ahead of another engagement with Benjamin Bol Mel, the presidential envoy for special programs and SPLM deputy secretary-general for political mobilization.

Moro Isaac Jenesio, leader of a faction of the South Sudan National Movement for Change (SSNMC), has been appointed as the new SSOA spokesperson. The SSOA leaders did not acknowledge that Jenesio was in fact appointed at the meeting in question.

In an SSOA statement issued with Jenesio’s signature as the alliance’s secretary for media and public relations following the meeting with Bol, the SSOA expressed optimism about the future of the alliance and its cooperation with the ruling SPLM party.

“Today, the 21st of November 2024, the Leadership Council of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), headed by Hon. Josephine Lagu Yanga, the Chairperson, met with Hon. Dr. Benjamin Bol Mel, SPLM Deputy Secretary General for Political Mobilization, to discuss issues related to the Implementation of critical tasks of the extension leading to the Elections,” Jenesio said.

“It is the first move by the SSOA, being the third Party to the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) 2018, to meet critical partners to the Agreement, starting with the SPLM as a dominant partner,” the statement added.

Jenesio, whose first statement as SSOA media official was this one, praised the SPLM’s alleged commitment to the peace process.

“The SSOA leadership under Lagu appreciates the assurance and spirit of partnership displayed by the SPLM and looks forward to working together to achieve peace, stability, and prosperity for all in our country,” he said.

Lual, in an email to Sudans Post following Jenesio’s statement, however, rejected his removal, describing the meeting and its decisions as illegitimate. He accused Lagu of violating the SSOA Charter and clinging to power long after her term as chairperson expired.

“Since ascending into office as Chairperson of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) in 2020, the chairperson has frozen the Charter and the Regulations that bring the Alliance together for a common purpose and continues to assume the office of Chairperson without reference to the charter or regulations,” Lual said.

He argued that Lagu’s six-month term ended four years ago, but she had refused to convene a leadership meeting to allow for elections.

“Since the election of Hon. Josephine Lagu as chairperson of SSOA in September 2020, her tenure of six (6) months elapsed four years ago, but she refused to organize a meeting to hand over the chairperson position as provided in the Charter and Regulations despite numerous calls by members,” he said.

Lual also accused Lagu of undermining the alliance’s democratic foundations and consolidating power for personal gain.

“The chairperson decided to suppress the very foundation of the Alliance for her own personal benefits without care to the interests of the Alliance,” he added.

The power struggle within the SSOA comes amid accusations that the alliance, initially formed to counter the SPLM-led government, has grown increasingly aligned with Kiir’s party.

Critics argue that last week’s meeting with President Kiir, in which they discussed the alliance’s role in the elections slated for late 2026, and today’s meeting with Bol Mel signal a shift in the SSOA’s political positioning ahead of the country’s planned elections.

The SSOA, a coalition of eight opposition parties, is a key signatory to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement aimed at ending the 2013-2018 civil war, which was largely fought along ethnic lines.

However, ongoing infighting has raised questions about its unity and effectiveness in pressuring commitment to the implementation of the peace agreement.