Top South Sudan youth leader defects to rebels

March 25, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – A top South Sudanese youth leader has declared his defection to the rebel faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) led by former vice-president Riek Machar, saying only the rebel leadership had a true vision for the country.

The chairperson of the Political Parties Youth Forum, Agel Ring Machar, declared his defection to Machar’s faction on Tuesday and issued a press statement to this effect, a copy of which Sudan Tribune obtained.

He accused president Salva Kiir of incompetence and bad leadership which he said was ruining and collapsing the country beyond repair.

Agel who chaired all political parties’ youth grouping in South Sudan until Tuesday said there was need for the revolution for total overhaul of the system in Juba.

“The status-quo is unsustainable and the current leadership in the country is too deformed to be reformed and therefore there is an urgent and pressing need of a total revolutionary overhaul of the system,” he said.

He also stressed that it was important to implement a federal system of governance in the country and to bring development and services closer to the people by creating more federal states.

The former youth leader further accused president Kiir of applying tribal and regional divide policy in tearing the country apart.

“The social fabric of our society which form the basis of our future has been torn, our economy is in total ruin, our diplomatic ties have damaged almost beyond repair, our armed and security forces have been turned on its own people, our sovereignty has been compromised and the country has lost vision and direction,” he said.

He urged the youth from the 64 tribes in the ten states of the country to rise up against president Kiir’s government and join the opposition group led by Machar, adding that the rebel leader had a vision that would save the country from collapse.

“It is my strong belief that the SPLM-IO under the able leadership of Dr Riek Machar provides the best alternative and the best tool for which we can fix the ills of our country,” he added.

Agel, who also hails from the largest Dinka ethnic group which has been dominating the country, was formerly the president of the South Sudan National Youth Union before chairing the country-wide youth forum.

(ST)