Governor’s son defects to South Sudan rebels
April 15, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – The son of Central Equatoria state governor, Clement Wani Konga, has declared his defection to the South Sudanese rebel group led by former vice-president Riek Machar.
In a press statement issued on Wednesday and seen by Sudan Tribune, Captain Joseph Clement Wani Konga said the opposition faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) offered the only chance of introducing much needed reforms in the country.
“I am hereby declaring my intention to join the people’s movement, the SPLM/A-IO, under the leadership of Dr Riek Machar Teny,” partly reads the declaration he made in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
“I am therefore appealing to our citizens to rise up and join the people’s resistance, the SPLM/A-IO, which offers the only viable option for bringing the highly required fundamental changes and reforms in all sectors of our government,” he said.
Konga described president Salva Kiir’s leadership as morally bankrupt and which had lost direction, citing the economic trouble as a sign of collapse of the newly founded nation.
The military officer met with the leader of the SPLM-IO, Machar, in Addis Ababa on Wednesday before issuing his declaration.
His defection comes barely a week after Brigadier General Gatwech Puoch Mar, younger brother to Upper Nile state’s governor, Simon Kun Puoch, and other military officers declared joining the rebel group.
(ST)