SPLM-N Rift: Agar rejects al-Hilu’s “coup”, renews calls for temporary leadership

June 9, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – The head of the SPLM North, Malik Agar, on Friday described the appointment of Abdel Aziz al-Hilu as chairman of the Movement as a coup based on tribal alliances. Further, he reiterated his proposal to choose a temporary leadership from the current leadership council according to the seniority of its membership.

The Nuba Mountains Liberation Council (NMLC) Wednesday decided to install al-Hilu as temporary president of the Movement, to relieve Agar from the leadership of the armed group together with the secretary general Yasir Arman, and to prevent them from entering the SPLM-N controlled areas.

But Agar rejected the move describing it as a “coup d’état if it succeeds will pave the way for other coups to come after,” he said, stressing that “a coup cannot lead and build a democratic national movement and will not be accepted by the Movement’s members and leaders, or why did our people resist for 27 years the coup of al-Bashir”.

In addition, he challenged the legality of the meeting of the Nuba Liberation Council saying it did not have a quorum. He pointed out that a “handful” of NMLC members held the meeting under a direct order from al-Hilu and tried to hide the weakness of attendance through the organisation of a public celebration to mark the 6th anniversary of the resumption of the war on June 6, 2011.

Agar wondered how a regional body can decide to dissolve the SPLM-N leadership council, saying it is a “political, legal and constitutional paradox”. Further, he underscored that the decisions of the NMLC were signed by a colonel who joined the SPLA-N in 2012 who dismissed the chairman and the secretary-general, both have the rank of Lieutenant General.

The SPLM-N leader stressed that the decisions of the Nuba Liberation Council were based on an alliance between certain tribes, warning that this is “unacceptable” and would divide the Movement on a tribal basis.

Also, he said “the small group working on the engineering of this coup is a group with tribal orientations that led to tribal fighting in the Blue Nile, a matter that should not happen in the Nuba Mountains. ”

Agar was referring to the recent clashes that occurred in between the SPLA-N controlled areas in the Blue Nile state between the group’s members from the Adak tribe against their comrades from Al-Angassana, the tribe of Malik Agar. The former supported al-Hilu’s move against Agar.

NEW LEADERSHIP

He renewed his readiness and the Secretary General to voluntarily renounce the leadership of the group saying that “it is better for the Movement to choose a temporary leadership in accordance with the seniority of the current leadership council to oversee the convening of the General Conference with the participation of real representatives of the Two Areas and the states of the northern sector (Sudan) and representatives of the Movement in the Diaspora.”

He stressed that the Chairman and the Secretary-General will never run for any future executive position in any way, adding that the movement needs a comprehensive assessment and openness to determine the way forward.

He reiterated that “it is not acceptable that a small group of Kauda town decide the future of the Movement”.

He pointed out that the right to self-determination is one of the contentious issues with al-Hilu in that sense that the movement’s chairman and secretary-general and many others leaders and members of the movement adhere to the vision of the New Sudan and the unity of Sudan on new bases.

He further said the other contention with al-Hilu that the latter after his return from a secret foreign visit, he started to discuss the possibility of dividing the Sudan into five countries with the SPLM-N’s cadre.

Agar called on al-Hilu to realise before it was too late that his “coup paves the way for internal and external forces to encircle the Movement, forces that have been in full hostility with the Movement and will now find a golden opportunity.”

He appealed the Movement’s forces and members to preserve the SPLM-N unity and to move away from ethnic and tribal, geographical divisions and commit themselves to the group’s vision.

(ST)