SPLM-IO Protests the Conditional Release of Dr. Riek Machar from House Confinement

SPLM/A (IO) Deputy Chairman Open Letter

To: H.E. Dr. Abiy Ahmed Ali Prime Minister,

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Subject: PROTEST ON THE CONDITIONS IMPOSED ON TRE RELEASE OF DR. RfEK MACHAR AS STATED IN THE COMMUNIQUE OF THE 61st EXTRA-ORDINARY SESSION OF IGAD COUNCIL OF MINISTERS ON THE SITUATION IN SOUTH SUDAN – ADDIS ABABA, March 26, 2018

Riek Machar and his wife, Angelina Teny

 

Your Excellency,

March 30, 2018 (SSB) — On behalf of the SPLM/SPLA (IO) and on my behalf, I would like to express my profound appreciation for the tireless efforts the leadership of your country has exerted in leading IGAD and its Assembly of Heads of State and Government in the search for a lasting peace in South Sudan. Complementary to the above have been the IGAD Council of Ministers’ efforts to remain seized in bringing peace to South Sudan. I also take this opportunity to applaud H.E. Ambassador Dr. Ismail Wars, IGAD Special Envoy for South Sudan and his team, for the magnificent work done in facilitating and guiding the HLRF peace talks.

Your Excellency, I however would like to express serious concerns regarding decisions in the IGAD Council of Ministers’ Communique issued on March 26, 2018 in Addis Ababa, that we believe could prove detrimental to HRLF process. First of which is, and I quote: “Decides the house arest of SPLM/ IO leader Dr. Riek Machar be lifted as soon as possible, on conditions that ensure he will renounce violence and not obstruct the peace process and he be allowed to

relocate to any country outside the region and are not neighboring !South Sudan; designated IGAD Ministers will propose and decide a possible location.”

IGAD’s Revitalization Forum as an Idea For #FixingSouthSudan: Molana Nhial Deng

SPLM Reunification Has been Sneezed at Three Times

By Malith Alier, Perth, Australia

SPLM Reunification: President Museveni meets President Kiir and G-10 leaders in Kampala

March 30, 2018 (SSB) — If anything, the so-called SPLM reunification is more distant than the peace talks prospects currently underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. More water has gone under the bridge and it is getting harder and harder for anyone to imagine that SPLM in its former self will be reincarnated. Some people still harbour the notion that the current upheaval began in the party and would be corrected by up the ante or going back to stage one.

In my Dinka understanding if you say something amid sneezes, obviously, I don’t say bless you, instead, I say you can’t be serious! The first thing people thought about immediately after the eruption of conflict was reunification of the SPLM as a party. One of the root causes to me was the question of the group formation that was halted at the second stage by actions of factions or individuals within the party.