Deng Alor says 24-month extension ‘not a long period’ for citizens to wait

JUBA – South Sudan’s minister of East African Affairs and the leader of the SPLM former detainees, Deng Alor Kuol, has said that the extension of the transitional period by the parties for twenty-four months should not worry anyone and that it is not a long period for the citizens to wait.

This comes after President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his first deputy Dr. Riek Machar Teny who doubles as the chairman and commander in chief of the main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) agreed to extend the transitional period until 2025.

“24 months is not a long period for our citizens to wait and this is a sign of progress. But as leaders, let us come together and help our people as leaders. We have refugees in Uganda, we have a big group of refugees in Egypt … and most of South Sudanese are still in Sudan,” he said.

“People are saying that we have liberated out country from the enemy, but we have also created suffering for our people. Let’s do the right thing so that our refugees come back home because they can survive here in this country,” he added.

The senior government official further urged President Kiir not to disappoint South Sudan’s western friends who stood with the people of South Sudan during the liberation struggle.

“The last thing your excellency, our friends who stood with us during the struggle during the liberation as I said before, this liberation and this day would have not been there if not the international community,” he said.

“I thank members of Western Europe and the United States for the good work done during the war and during the struggle and they have remained with us. We should not disappoint them, we should not disappoint anybody,” he added.