South Sudan youth union elects new president

March 27, 2015 (JUBA) – Members of South Sudan youth union on Wednesday elected a new chairperson after a contest, which saw some candidates withdrawing from the race in favour of the others.

Albino Bol Dhieu Bol was in the end elected chairperson with 1,010 votes while Lino Ajang Ajang, his main challenger, got 90 votes.

Three other candidates also vied for the youth chairperson’s position.

Youth from all over the country’s 10 states, as well as Abyei and Pibor administrative areas, took part in the hotly-contested elections.

President Salva Kiir, who officially opened the youth gathering on Tuesday, had earlier called on young people to be united and desist from being used by politicians intending to achieve their ambitions.

Lam Tungwar, the outgoing interim youth union leader, lauded the youth, culture and sports minister for the role she played to ensure the three-day youth convention was successful without interruptions.

Chairman Bol, in his acceptance speech, said youth issued would be prioritised to ensure they fully participate in nation-building process.

“Our unity is shaken by this conflict. Youth are not in this conflict speaking the same voice. We have been terribly divided by the conflict that we have abandoned our role as the youth,” said Bol.

“We need to reunite ourselves and come up with one common national agenda as the guiding objective to achieve the dream of peaceful, inclusive, just, equitable, transparent, accountable and democratic country we want to build”, he added.

(ST)