Form your own party, Kiir tells SPLM contenders
July 29, 2013 (JUBA) – South Sudan president Salva Kiir has openly told those opposed to his leadership of the South-ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) to form their own political entities, if the party no longer fulfils their aspirations.
“Whoever does not want to be under the leadership of somebody, can go and establish his or her own political party,” he said on Monday.
The president made the comments – his first public statement since he dissolved cabinet last week – while speaking at an event organised by former child soldiers, popularly known as the red army.
In a move that surprised many, Kiir issued a series of republican orders on 23 July, removing his long-time deputy, Riek Machar, and dissolving the entire government.
He said it was too early for any election campaigns to take off, given that the country’s citizens will not vote until 2015.
“This is not the time for [a political] campaign. For those who are in a hurry, I will say, if they don’t want to wait for the right time, they better leave [the] SPLM and then go and form their own political party”, he said.
Analysts interpret the president’s remarks as an indirect response to the recent declaration by Machar that he intends to challenge Kiir for the position of the party’s chairmanship.
At a press conference he held on Thursday, the former vice-president reiterated his desire to run for the chairmanship, before the two-year-old country holds its first national elections in 2015.
“I have told my colleagues in the politburo [political bureau] that come the next elections in 2015, I would contest those elections”, he told reporters in the capital, Juba.
He further stressed that ascending to power should be done through peaceful and democratic processes, and that is why he called on the army to remain neutral in such political processes.
Machar said he supports party unity and denied that he had any intention to form a new party as was the case in 1991 when there was a split with the late SPLM leader, John Garang.
International observers fear that a power struggle could take place within the party, pointing out that disagreements between the president and Machar, who is the SPLM deputy chairman, could forge deep divisions and internal factions within the party.
(ST)