Kiir says he was not defeated during deadly civil war

JUBA, JULY 5, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Tuesday said that his government was not defeated during the country’s deadly civil war, which lasted from December 2013 to September2018.

Kiir made the statement during a speech to thousands of his supporters in Western Bahr el Ghazal state’s capital Wau where a ceremony was organized by the Greater Bahr el Ghazal region’s governors for him to launch his campaign.

South Sudan is set to hold its first elections in December 2024

The president who is also the leader of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) faction said that the war was “senseless” and that he signed the revitalized peace agreement in 2018 because he thought it was “better to stop it.”

“I did not want it (war) to continue, not because we were defeated, but I thought it was better to stop it,” Kiir said.

The civil war in South Sudan was a bloody conflict that was fought between the SPLA-IO led by First Vice President Riek Machar and Kiir’s government, resulting in the killing of at nearly 400,000 people and displacement of millions.

The revitalized peace agreement was signed in 2018 in an attempt to end the war. Despite international calls for the parties to show commitment to the peace deal, its implementation has been very low with elections being slated for December 2024.