Top SPLM leaders in Aweil for election preparations
April 28, 2022 (JUBA) – The Interim Secretary General of South Sudan’s ruling party (SPLM), Peter Lam Both and other senior officials are in the Northern Bahr el Ghazal capital, Aweil to prepare the ground for general elections.
Accompanied by senior party member, Daniel Awet Akot, Lam had held rallies outlining SPLM’s vision in Western Bahr el Ghazal and Warrap States.
He is also due to visit Abyei Administrative Area as part of his mission tour.
The interim chairperson of the SPLM branch in the state, who also doubles as the state governor, Tong Akeen Ngor welcomed the SPLM team in Aweil.
Speaking to exclusively to Sudan Tribune on Thursday, Akot said he was happy to be in Aweil, one of the areas under his command during the bush war struggle.
He urged the young generation that did not have the opportunity to fight during the war of liberation to participate by voting in the coming elections.
“I am speaking to you in Aweil town, a historical place for me, as a commander and as a son of this country. Many of the forces, the tuek-tuek battalion were from here, Aweil. They fought hard and they won. Some are old, some have lost their lives liberating this country and people and some are wounded heroes and heroines. They are here and I have met many of them several times in Juba. Some called to hear from me,” explained Akot.
He added, “Let me say that they have accomplished their job. The new job is left to the young people because, like Fanon is once quoted to have said in many books, each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it, in relative opacity, our generation accomplished our mission”.
Akot, a member of the SPLM Political Bureau, urged the people of Aweil to embrace dialogue while stressing that the party belongs to all the citizens.
“We need people to embrace the spirit of dialogue, the spirit of talking about something seen not going in the right direction. People should not keep quiet. They should talk because SPLM is a party for everyone”, he said.
South Sudan has had a three-year transitional period to implement provisions of the September 2018 revitalized peace agreement ending the country’s civil war, which was to be followed by general elections in 2023.
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan recently expressed key that areas of the peace agreement remain unimplemented. They said continued violence in parts of the country, as well as widespread, systematic human rights violations, impede possibilities of free and fair elections.
(ST)