Africa-Press – South-Sudan. Political leaders hailing from the Nuer community, as well as lawmakers from the SPLM party, have called for the immediate resignation of Cabinet Affairs Minister Dr. Martin Elia Lomuro, accusing him of making divisive and ethnically charged statements against the Nuer community.
This follows a press briefing held by Dr. Lomuro on April 26, during which he reportedly categorized the Nuer community as both “friendly and hostile” in the context of national politics.
In a joint statement signed by senior Nuer political leaders known as the Nuer Leadership Peace Forum, including Hon. James Hoth Mai, Hon. Michael Chiangjiek, Dr. John Jooyul, Hassen Deng Gatpan, and Hon. Wiu Kuon, the group condemned what it termed “a derogatory and inflammatory statement.”
The leaders urged President Salva Kiir to remove Dr. Lomuro from his roles as Cabinet Affairs Minister and Secretary of the High-Level Committee overseeing the peace agreement implementation.
They further cautioned that the Nuer Leadership Peace Forum reserves the right to pursue legal action, emphasizing that ethnic profiling constitutes a violation of South Sudanese law.
The Forum accused Dr. Lomuro of using his position to defame the Nuer identity and stir ethnic tensions instead of focusing on national unity. They also blamed him for allegedly fueling conflict within his community in Wonduruba, Juba County, and Lainya.
According to the statement, Dr. Lomuro’s remarks risk inciting hostility between the Nuer and other ethnic groups and damaging the historical contributions of the Nuer to the country’s liberation.
The leaders said the cabinet minister’s comments could negatively influence how the Nuer are perceived by both regional and international actors—an act they believe undermines the very government he serves.
During the press briefing in Juba on April 26, Dr. Lomuro, the Rapporteur of the High-Level Standing Committee, which is tasked with evaluating the performance of government agencies and peace mechanisms, underlined that the Nuer people live in 16 countries.
He went on to say nine of the 16 counties are hostile to the government and are primarily aligned with the SPLM/A-IO, while the remaining seven are aligned with the government.
“The Nuer ethnic group, one of the largest in South Sudan, played a significant and crucial role in the liberation of the country. This community spans occupied counties divided into four sub-sections,” he narrated.
Dr. Lomuro listed the 16 counties formed by the Nuer people spread over Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei states.
“Out of these counties, nine of them are considered hostile to the government, primarily aligned with the SPLM-IO. These include Nasir, Ulang, Akobo, Nyirol, Uror, Fangak, Ayod and Rubkona. Leaders from these areas hold influential political and military positions, and maintain deep ties with the community leadership, including youth, women and spiritual leaders.”
“The seven remaining counties are deemed to be friendly to the government, including Mayandit, Maiwut, Longachuk as we as Guit, Leer, Panijar, Mayendit, Koch and Mayom county in Unity state.”
The Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr. Joseph Geng Akech, later clarified that the statement of Dr. Lomuro was not directed to the whole Nuer ethnic group but only to organised armed groups in those areas.
Dr. Akech emphasized that the government would address these isolated cases of organised groups within communities through the implementation of Chapter Five of the peace agreement, which focuses on reconciliation among communities.
“The reference to a hostile community does not mean the collective community. But as the honorable minister has mentioned, this is an organised group that attacked the barracks as we have seen,” he said.
“So, the hostility that we have seen with communities is evidently supported by some of the partners to the peace agreement, that’s why they have been influenced to attack military installations, and the remedy to this as the continuation of the peace agreement calls for is to emphasize on reconciliation of communities as articulated in chapter five.”
In a separate statement, Nuer SPLM Members in the national parliament “strongly” condemned Dr. Lomuro’s statement, which profiled the Nuer community as either “friendly” or “hostile” to the government.
The MPs have also called on President Kiir to immediately remove him from his leadership positions.
In a joint statement issued in Juba, the lawmakers described Dr. Lomuro’s comments as “reckless and dangerous,” not only to the Nuer community but also to the unity and stability of the government itself.
“Nuer people are not friends of the Republic of South Sudan. They are citizens of South Sudan in the same way that others are, and their status in this country cannot be reduced to a relationship to be described as ‘friendly or hostile’. This is unacceptable and we condemn it in the strongest term possible,” reads a statement from the MPs.
They emphasized that the ongoing conflict in South Sudan is between armed opposition groups and the government, not between the Nuer ethnic group and the state.
“The conflict affects all corners of South Sudan, including Dr. Lomuro’s own Lainya County in Wonduruba.”
The lawmakers are demanding a full retraction of Dr. Lomuro’s remarks, as well as his dismissal from the High-Level Standing Committee overseeing the implementation of the 2018 peace agreement.
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