South Sudanese army chief and Aweil governors hold meeting
February 10, 2016 (JUBA) – The South Sudanese army (SPLA) chief, General Paul Malong Awan held on Tuesday a high profile meeting with the three governors of Lol, Aweil and Aweil East states at his residence in the country’s capital, Juba.
Others at the meeting were Major Gen. Santino Deng Wol, police general Akot Deng and several high and low ranking officials and senior military officers.
Officials say the purpose of the Tuesday’s meeting was for Awan to brief the governors on the outcome of the meetings he and several other military officers from his area held in Aweil town and in Warawar village.
According to officials who attended the Aweil meeting, one of the issues discussed was the proposal for the army chief of staff to be head of the country’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party for the three newly-created states as well as remain the Aweil community leader.
Awan, by virtue of being overall head of the SPLM with responsibilities overseeing the three states, would now be the one to approve nomination of officials seeking appointments into various cabinet and party positions.
The work of the governors, according to the proposal, would only be reduced to recommending and conducting administrative supervision.
The proposal, accepted by two state governors, was reportedly opposed by many of the politicians from Lol state, including their governor, Hassan.
Instead Governor Hassan, sources told Sudan Tribune, preferred bilateral cooperation rather than the administrative monopoly of the affairs and immediately declared himself as the ruling party’s chairperson for Lol state.
The Lol state governor reportedly said he would not accept anyone to do middle work for him and his community, and preferred to directly with the president without relying on a middle authority between him and the latter.
A number of officials, who preferred anonymity, argued that Awan’s main objective of seeking monopoly of power is to use it as a political strength which he would allegedly use as a political card to continue playing influential roles in national affairs as someone with a strong support base.
However, losing support from Lol state specifically from the two counties of Aweil West and Aweil North allegedly reduces the army chief staff’s support base to Aweil East and some elements from Aweil state.
This, the officials said, makes Awan appear in a weak political standing on national affairs.
(ST)