South Sudan’s Pagan Amum returns to Juba in preparation for reinstatement
June 22, 2015 (JUBA) – Pagan Amum, former secretary general of the South Sudan’s ruling party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), returned to Juba on Monday to negotiate his reinstatement into the party led by president Salva Kiir, ending more than one year of being in exile in neighbouring Kenya. He was accompanied by Kenyan defence minister.
Speaking to reporters on arrival at Juba international Airport, Kordit said the leadership was ready to leave behind the past so that the country returned to peace and stability in order to move forward.
“People who choose to be the hostages of the past never see the future. We have made a choice not to be taken hostage by the past,” Kordit told reporters in a reconciliatory tone.
“A year plus or two years are enough for emotions to cool down, for bitterness and hate that come with the conflict to be ended. This country needs peace, it needs reconciliation, tolerance and needs unity for it to develop,” he said.
Earlier, Kordit revealed that the results of the weekend meeting of the former detainees and those in the government agreed to work together towards reunification of the SPLM and to develop one position paper with the government on the resolution of the conflict with armed opposition fighters.
On behalf of the former detainees, John Luk Jok, former justice minister, said he expected that discussions to be held with president Kiir and senior members of the ruling party would concentrate on the reinstatement of Amum to his previous position as secretary general in the party.
“We have come back with Comrade Pagan Amum today, which will be a great day for the SPLM and we believe that the meeting the SPLM leadership is holding will lay to rest the issue of the secretary general which has been unresolved,” Jok said.
“There are many issues to be resolved by the [SPLM factions] so that there can be full peace in the country,” he added.
Amum’s Monday return followed a series of talks after two visits of some of the group of former detainees led by Deng Alor, who over the weekend held meetings with president Kiir and some members of the political bureau and national liberation council.
It is not clear under what circumstances the former secretary returned after he had been a critical voice calling on both president Kiir and former vice-president, Riek Machar, to quit politics so that it provided an opportunity for others to take over to unite the country. He claimed that the actions of the duo had polarized the country and its people on tribal and regional lines.
But his critics say Amum and his group were part and parcel of the conflict and therefore not the right choice of South Sudanese to take over the leadership.
Amum and ten others were accused of allegedly attempting to oust the government of president Kiir. They denied any wrong doing and the high court threw out the case.
(ST)