Malong, Pagan awaiting ‘positive’ response of unity from Cirilo

NAIROBI – South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) faction under General Paul Malong Awan and Pagan Amum Okiech has said that they are looking forward to the unity of SSOMA as they await what they said in a statement is a positive response from the other faction led by General Thomas Cirilo Swaka.

In August, a meeting of SSOMA figures, all of whom are allied yo General Cirilo, met and suspended the membership of General Malong’s South Sudan United Front (SSUF/A) from the Alliance.

The decision triggered backlash from key members including Pagan Amum’s Real-SPLM, saying Malong hadn’t been suspended because the meeting in which his group was suspended wasn’t attended by all members of the Alliance.

Following the resumption of talks between the Alliance and the government in Rome, Italy, the different groups making up the SSOMA negotiated with the government separately with the talks ending up without any resolution from all the separate sitings.

In a statement on Thursday, the Malong-Pagan-led SSOMA said it is ready to welcome back the South Sudan National Democratic Alliance (SSNDA), an alliance of different groups, that is part of the SSOMA, to the Alliance.

“South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance would like to inform its supporters at large, regional and international community as well as the media houses that several SSOMA-Leadership Council meetings were held on the 31st October, 7th and the 14th of November 2020 whereby the leaders resolved to call for reunification of SSOMA and express readiness to engage with South Sudan National Democratic Alliance (SSNDA) for SSOMA to reunite, as that will contribute to the unity of the people of South Sudan as well as strengthen the chances to address the root causes of the conflict in South Sudan,” the statement signed by Malong and Pagan reads in part.

“In pursuance of the  articles of The Hague Declaration of Principles, which was signed on 30th August, 2019 by SSUF/A;R-SPLM; and SSNDA;  and given the recent developments during the last Rome Talks facilitated by the Community of Sant’ Egidio, that saw the Alliance negotiating separately, the SSOMA-LC has taken the initiative to engage the leadership of SSNDA to reconsider its position in the interest of unity of SSOMA.

“SSOMA-LC believes in the spirit of comradeship and working together as a strong united Alliance, which is the best way forward  to achieving a lasting peace for the people of South Sudan.

“Therefore, SSOMA- LC (SSUF/A and R-SPLM) opens its doors to welcome back SSOMA (SSNDA) to reconcile and unite as per The Hague Declaration of Principles.

“SSOMA-LC is waiting for a positive response from SSNDA leadership to resume and continue cooperation for the sole purpose of achieving just peace and to rescue South Sudan form the latent disintegration.”