South Sudan former lawmaker receives death threats to sabotage SPLM reunification process
August 18, 2017 (JUBA) – A former South Sudanese lawmaker says he and several other critics have been put on a hunt list, in order to sabotage the ongoing efforts to reconcile President Salva Kiir and the opposition SPLM Former Detainees group.
Wol Deng Atak, a former Member of Parliament who is now based in Nairobi confirmed to Sudan Tribune that he had received several warnings and advises from some people in the government to dissociate himself from former political detainees and stop being critical of the government of President Salva Kiir as well.
The former legislator claimed the intention of the alleged warnings and threats on his life were to frustrate the efforts to reunite the SPLM factions particularly the group of the former detainees also known as ‘G10’ and the SPLM loyal to President Kiir.
“I think they want to stop the reconciliation process initiated by (President) Kiir and to send a message to G10 and Mama Rebecca (Nyandeng de Mabior) that reconciliation is not real. They know my relationship with the group. Plus, the plotters don’t want reconciliation to succeed so want to do anything at their disposal to stop it,” said Atak.
The efforts initiated by the President Yoweri Museveni to gather the SPLM factions within the framework of the process launched by Tanzania and South Africa have succeeded to narrow the gap at least between Kiir’s faction, G10 and SPLM-IO Taban Deng. The Ugandan leader used his close relations with Rebecca Garang and the South Sudanese president to end the discord with the former detainees.
Several sources in Juba told Sudan Tribune that this rapprochement is not welcomed by several people in the presidential entourage and the SPLM-In-Opposition of the First Vice President Taban Deng Gai without further details.
“There are elements in the government who do not want the reunification and reconciliation initiated by the president to materialize. They just want it for public relations purpose. But in reality they don’t want it because reunification returns to the leadership some of the leaders who would be a stumbling block to the rise of those wanting to use the split as their opportunity to rise to the leadership position,” said a senior member of the ruling Sudan SPLM faction.
“These are the people using government agents on several occasions to ensure that they undermine these reunification efforts by the president. They are the very people on several occasions that made unsuccessful attempts on Hon. Wol Deng Atak’s life in Kenya ” claimed the source which is close to the reunification process of the historical movement.
Another source who raised the same concerns, in a separate interview with the Sudan Tribune asserted that the purpose of the plot against the nonviolent opposition elements in exile is to shake the nascent confidence between the president and the G10 and to derail or spoil the reconciliation process.
The sources pointed to some high ranking officials in the Transitional Government of National Unity saying they are behind the “plot”, as they say.
In a meeting held in Uganda without the participation of the SPLM-IO Taban Deng Gai on 24 July, President Salva Kiir and a group of the former political detainees headed by Madame de Mabior agreed to reaffirm their commitment to the SPLM reunification in order to end the ongoing conflict.
Also, in a second meeting held on 27 July with the participation of Taban Deng group, the three factions signed the Entebbe Declaration to operationalize the Arusha Agreement on the Reunification of the SPLM.
The declaration was signed at State House Entebbe in presence of President Yoweri Museveni. The three factions also renewed calls for the faction of the former First Vice President Riek Machar to join the process.
(ST)