S. Sudan ruling party factions to hold re-unification meeting

April 7, 2018 (JUBA) – The three different factions of South Sudan’s ruling party (SPLM) are due to hold a reunification meeting in the capital, Juba on 19 April, a senior coalition government official said on Thursday.

Igga, also the deputy chairperson of the SPLM faction led by President Salva Kiir, said the SPLM-In-Opposition leader, Riek Machar and former SPLM Secretary General, Pagan Amum, who is now a member of the country’s former political detainees were all invited.

Sudan Tribune was unable to confirm if rebel leader Machar, who is currently detained in South Africa, will attend the 19 April meeting in Juba.

In January 2015, delegates from three factions of the SPLM party signed a 12-page agreement in Arusha, Tanzania, laying out key steps toward reunifying the party.

Those who signed include the party loyal to President Salva Kiir, the SPLM-in-Opposition and which is led by former vice president Riek Machar, and a third made up of party officials who were detained when the conflict began in December 2013.

The SPLM, South Sudan’s ruling party, was initially founded as the political wing of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). The party, in the aftermath of the civil war that broke out in the country in mid-December 2013, split into the SPLM-Juba faction headed by Kiir, SPLM-IO led by Machar and that of the ex-political detainees.

(ST)