Pagan who is the head of the opposition Real-SPLM and spokesman of a new alliance calling for a government of technocrats in South Sudan made the remarks in a Twitter “Space” organized by activists to discuss various issues including the emergence of new alliances.
One activist asked Pagan “How sure are we that all the solutions you are providing right now are as a result of lack of political leverage? And that all these alliances created with CSOs and others are not just a political bullet?”]
Amum responded and said that President Kiir had worked hard to make him in Juba for years, but declined to return because the government is not implementing the SPLM vision.
“If it were about power for me, I would be in Juba today. For years President Kiir & others have been pushing for me to return to the SPLM, but I disagree with how they are not implementing the ideas of SPLM. It is not about power for me,” Pagan said.
NEW ALLIANCE
Holdout opposition leaders, General Paul Malong, Gen. Pagan Amum, General Thomas Cirilo, among others, this week formed a military alliance officials allied to them say is aimed at “rescuing South Sudan from the imminent collapse.”
Malong is the leader of South Sudan United Front (SSUF), Pagan is the leader of Real SPLM, while Cirilo is the leader of the National Salvation Front (NAS). Others in the opposition including the National Democratic Movement (NDM-PF) led by Emmanuel Ajawin, UDRM led by Thomas Tut, and SSNMC led by Alex Yatta.
In a statement on Friday, the five opposition groups appointed Gen. Pagan Amum as the spokesman of the new alliance known as Non-Signatories South Sudanese Oppositions Group (NSSSOG) which is calling for an alternative government.
GOVERNMENT OF TECHNOCRATS
The five groups on July 13 issued a statement rejecting any extension of the transitional period and called for the regional communities including the IGAD which mediated the revitalized peace agreement in 2018 to support them in their call for a technocratic government.
“It is incumbent upon all the stakeholders in the country, from the political organizations, civil society, faith-based organizations, women, and youth groups to collectively reject the extension of the period of R-TGONU and decide the future of the country to avoid its collapse into chaos and disintegration,” they said in the statement a copy of which was obtained by Sudans Post.
“We the Non-Signatory South Sudan Opposition Parties, who rejected the R-ARCSS, and now driven by the noble goal to rescue our state and our nation from collapse and disintegration, call on all south Sudanese political forces and all the other South Sudanese stakeholders from civil society, faith based, women and youth organizations to forge a way forward, formalizing the current discussion and to build consensus which will lead to the establishment of a New transition with a government of Technocrats/Hybrid government, as the R-TGONU Transitional Period comes to an end by February 2023,” they added.