SPLM-IO says Jieng Council of Elders poses “dangerous” threat to peace

JUBA – South Sudan’s main armed opposition group, SPLM-IO, has said the Jieng Council of Elders is posing a dangerous threat and the revitalized peace agreement in the world’s youngest country after the group reiterated its continued attack on the 2018 peace agreement.

In a statement yesterday, the Jieng Council of Elders reiterated its attack against the revitalized peace agreement saying it was imminent that the country is returning to war over the deal which it said has poor international backing.

The latest statement is a follow up to a January statement in which the tribal council also attacked the peace agreement and in which the group thought to convince the regional bloc, IGAD, which mediated the deal and the African Union to discard it and support the National Dialogue.

In a statement to Sudans Post this afternoon, Dut Majokdit, a member of the SPLM-IO National Liberation Council and close ally of the group’s leader and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny, said the calls by the Jieng Council of Elders for the region to abandon peace deal and exit of President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Machar from power is a dangerous move for the peace agreement.

“Calling for Kiir and Machar to exit from the political environment in the country is a premature move at the current time and it is wrong and dangerous for the country for some people to support such statements from Jieng Council of Elders because the people of South Sudan want peace and stability,” Majokdit said.

The senior opposition official said the National Dialogue was not inclusive as it only thought to undermine the peace agreement that was being negotiated in Addis Ababa and the neighboring Sudanese capital Khartoum saying the revitalized peace agreement is the only hope for peace to prevail in the country.

“The National dialogue was not inclusive due to the face that it thought to undermine and paralyze the revitalization efforts to bring back to life the 2015 agreement that collapsed following the J1 crisis. The recommendations by the National dialogue are political tools to dismantle the agreement and subsequently maintain the status quo,” he said.

“The implementation of the R-ARCSS is the only hope for [South Sudanese] to lead us to democratic process and for the country to attain the badly needed peace and political stability,” he added.