South Sudanese global youth groups call on president Kiir to relinquish power
July 10, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – South Sudanese youth groups living in different countries around the world on Thursday called on president Salva Kiir to step aside following expiry of his term of office. They also called upon Ugandan troops to leave the country.
President Kiir’s elected five-year term of office expired two months ago on 21 May. Tenure for the elected national legislature expired on 8 March. A four-year constitutional mandate after independence for both executive and legislative leaderships and memberships which started on 9 July 2011 also expired on Wednesday 8 July 2015.
But the national legislature extended itself and that of the president, governors and state legislative assemblies by three years from 9 July 2015 until 9 July 2018.
According to the focal point or organizer of the youth coordinated protests across continents, Thalage Wal Goch, who also leads the youth group in Australia, he said it was time for president Kiir to heed to the calls of the people by calling it quit.
“We want Salva Kiir to step aside. He is no longer a legitimate leader of the country. Both his elected and constitutional terms of office have expired,” youth leader, Thalage Wal, said in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Thursday.
“Salva Kiir should heed to the call and resign honourably,” he said.
He added that the youth were for a peaceful resolution of the conflict but said this would not be realized with president Kiir at the helm of the regime in Juba.
Thalage also reiterated calls for withdrawal of the Ugandan Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) fighting alongside president Kiir’s government against the armed opposition faction led by former vice president, Riek Machar.
He accused the government of committing “genocide” against civilians from the Nuer ethnic group in the national capital, Juba, in December 2013, calling for justice to be served.
Thousands of youth members residing in the United States, Egypt, Israel, Switzerland, Canada, Uganda and Ethiopia staged a coordinated peaceful protest on Thursday under the theme, ‘Black Card’, demanding that the president resigns.
President Kiir’s government has been arguing that the extension of the president’s term of office and that of the national legislature was necessary in the absence of elections in order to not create a constitutional crisis.
(ST)