Taban Deng has not resigned from SPLM-IO: Spokesperson

April 30, 2016 (JUBA) – The armed opposition faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) has dismissed as baseless “rumour” allegation that their party’s chief negotiator, Taban Deng Gai, has resigned from the SPLM-IO.

Deng has been the SPLM-IO’s chief negotiator under the leadership of the newly sworn in First Vice-President, Riek Machar, for two years since peace negotiations with President Salva Kiir’s government began in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in January 2014 to end the civil war which erupted on 15 December 2013 in the country.

However, Machar’s press secretary, James Gatdet Dak, dismissed the rumours as untrue, but said Deng wanted to take a break from his role as chief negotiator.

“It is not true that H.E. General Taban Deng Gai, Mining Minister, has resigned from the SPLM-IO as rumoured and circulated on social media,” Dak said.

“He just feels that his direct role as Chief Negotiator should come to an end and be replaced with another official,” he added.

Deng, a former governor of the oil rich Unity state, was also appointed as minister of mining in the newly sworn in transitional government of national unity per nomination by Machar.

It was not however clear whether his decision to quit his role as chief negotiator resulted from a frustration to continue leading the opposition’s committee.

But Dak told Sudan Tribune that Deng wanted to be given time to establish his new mining ministry.

“He wanted time in order to concentrate on establishment of the Ministry of Mining,” Dak explained.

Deng, he added, therefore decided to resign from the membership of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) as well as from being the chief negotiator for the opposition.

He said the leadership of the SPLM-IO commended him for his role in successfully negotiating the peace agreement until it was signed on 17 August 2015.

(ST)