South Sudan’s SPLM-IO elects secretary general of the party
November 27, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – The National Liberation Council (NLC) of the opposition faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) chaired by the former vice-president, Riek Machar, has elected its movement’s secretary general for the first time in 22 months of its opposition to the governing SPLM under the leadership of president Salva Kiir.
Dak said on Friday the election took place in the opposition faction’s headquarters of Pagak in a democratic atmosphere in which other candidates competed in the democratic exercise.
Wol, who is from the ethnic Dinka group from Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, has now become the third most senior party’s official, would begin to organize the movement’s secretariat in accordance with the structures of the SPLM-IO.
He also said the movement has selected the membership of both the political bureau and the national liberation council.
The opposition faction has been conducting several meetings in Pagak for the past four weeks in preparations for the implementation of the peace agreement signed in August between president Kiir and the opposition leader, Machar, to end 21 months of violent conflict.
SPLM-IO WELCOMES LAUNCH OF JMEC
Dak also said the leadership of the SPLM-IO has welcomed the launch in Juba of the work of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) which will oversee the implementation of the peace agreement.
JMEC is headed by former president of Botswana, Festus Mogae, who will be reporting to the East African regional bloc, IGAD, the African Union (AU) and even to the United Nations (UN) on progress made or challenges faced in the implementation of the peace agreement.
Representatives of the opposition faction could not participate because the venue was not agreed and the timing was not conducive given some of the contentious issues facing the implementation of the peace deal, said Dak.
He reiterated that an advance team of over 500 cadres is ready to travel to Juba for the implementation of the deal, but added this will not be possible until some political violations by the government are addressed.
The advance team, he said, was selected from the membership of the proposed 21 federal states and would therefore travel to the national capital, Juba, and spread to the other 21 proposed states which are based on the former colonial districts in the country.
He said the team will be on standby until the obstacles to their return to the country are removed, further adding that once on the ground they will remain there until the formation of the transitional government of national unity.
(ST)