Malong, Pagan have not been expelled from Rome talks – official

ROME – South Sudan holdout opposition leaders, Pagan Amum Okiech, and General Paul Malong Awan, have not been expelled from peace talks by the mediation in Rome, where government and opposition groups are meeting to end conflict.

Today, a section of the media reported that Malong, the leader of South Sudan United Front, and Pagan Amum, the leader of the Real-SPLM, have been expelled by St. Egidio from the talks.

The reports claimed that the request to have them expelled came as a request from General Thomas Cirilo Swaka, who is accused of being at the epicenter of disagreements within the holdout opposition group.

Speaking to Sudans Post this morning,  Chol Duang, Malong’s press secretary, said the reports are untrue pointing to pictures taken on Friday during the first face-to-face meeting between the government and the opposition in which Malong, General Oyai Deng Ajak of the Real-SPLM and Cirilo, could all be seen together.

“This is not true because as you can see from the pictures. Yesterday, there was a joint meeting between all leaders of SSOMA, accept Pagan who was on the way, and the government,” Chol said.

“So, the talks is going well and this afternoon the talk has resumed,” he said.