Africa-Press – South-Sudan. A subtle tug of war is unravelling as the big parties to the agreement continue to disagree over the fate of the former defence minister and the swapping of the ministries of defence and veteran affairs with that of interior.
The ouster of Angelina Teny from the defence docket by President Salva Kiir triggered an outburst from the SPLM-IO before it was overtaken by a period of calm, resting the anxiety that had built up in the public.
But in the past week, both SPLM-IG and SPLM-IO have traded words over it, leaving a trail of questions over whether President Salva Kiir and the First Vice President really solved the matter or not.
In his briefing to the media on Friday after the Cabinet Meeting, Michael Makuei, Minister of Information Communication Technology and Postal Service, who is also a spokesperson and a senior member of the SPLM-IG, claimed that President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar had resolved the dispute that led to the dismissal of Angelina Teny and the swapping of the ministries.
Makuei claimed that the government is just waiting for a new interior minister and the deputy defence minister to be appointed to fill the constitutional vacuum.
“We are waiting for the minister of interior to be appointed, the deputy minister of defence to be appointed, the deputy minister of Interior to be relieved, and another to be appointed in his place,” Makuei said.
But in another interview with The City Review over the weekend, the Acting Press Secretary in the office of the First Vice President, Puok Bulang, responded to Makuei’s statement, saying there was no agreement reached.
“We would like to inform the public and our members that the deadlock still remains and there has been no agreement reached,” Baluang said.
He added that in case the SPLM-IG members claimed that the agreement was reached, there is a need to justify to the public where and when the meeting for that agreement took place, including who was present among SPLM-IO members.
He claimed that the members of SPLM-IG continue to confuse the public by claiming that the two principals have agreed when they have not.
Baluang asserted that both the internal and external means to solve the disputes remain fruitless.
He added that the SPLM-IO has not reached any agreement with the SPLM-IO, citing the matter as a violation of the agreement, especially Article 1.13.1 and Article 1.12.1, that should not be tolerated to continue.
Peace doors
He added that many initiatives were tried to solve the issue, including both internal and external ones.
According to Baluang, several meetings were requested between President Salva Kiir and the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar, as the Principles of the Agreement, but they failed to culminate in a consensus.
He revealed that a committee was formed to solve the dispute after meetings failed to meet their goals and were also not as successful as expected.
“They (President Kiir and Machar) decided to form a committee of two, that committee comprising of Dr. Bol Mel from the SPLM-IG side and Hon. Pout Kang from the SPLM-IO, to come up with the resolution or ways on how to resolve the deadlock, and these two committees did not come up with or present their findings or outcomes on how to resolve this matter till now,” he revealed.
He added that there were also external initiatives by Sudan and Ethiopia to get the breakthrough, but they have not been implemented since the parties have not sat down to discuss them.
He claimed that SPLM-IO was not part of the claimed agreement reached as stated in the IGAD communiqué. For him, they were not part of the IGAD meeting in Djibouti in order to respond to the claims.
“We would like to clarify that the IGAD stated in their communiqué that there was agreement reached by the parties. We would like to state very clearly that we, as SPLM-IO, did not take part in that meeting in Djibouti,” he said.
“During that meeting, none of the SPLM-IO members attended that meeting whereby Hon. Elia Lomuro and Michael Makuei gave the wrong impression that there was an agreement reached concerning the issue of the presidential decree and the presidential order,” he added.
Way forwards
Baluang revealed that the First Vice President has sent a request to President Salva Kiir so that they can have a discussion over the Sudanese proposal on the resolution of the deadlock.
“His Excellency the First Vice President wrote a few weeks ago to President Salva Kiir to discuss the Sudanese proposal on how to resolve the matter, but President Salva Kiir did not respond as we speak to the first Vice President regarding setting up a principles meeting to discuss the matter,” he said.
“We would like to call upon President Salva Kiir, or we would like to reiterate the call from the SPLM-IO political Bureau to resolve this matter as soon as possible because there is a constitutional vacuum in the Ministry and there is a need to appoint a full minister, which is a restatement of Hon. Angelina Teny as Minister of Defence, or to continue discussing this matter,” he added.
In March, President Salva, by Presidential decree, fired Defence Minister Angelina Teny, who came from the peace party Sudan People Liberation Movement In Opposition (SPLM-IO).
A move SPLM-IO considered a violation, citing that they were not considered and there was a need for President Salva Kiir to reinstate Angelina back to the defence ministry, arguing that it remains their docket and should not be taken away from them.
But in rebuttal, Mr. Makuei backed the president’s decision, saying President Kiir is the appointing authority and his decision is beyond reproach.
“Even the SPLM-IO, even Riek Machar, was appointed by the president, so the final authority that makes the appointment is the president, and he is the final authority that relieves,” Makuei said.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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