SPLM-IO wants Olony appointed to enable him attend conference in Juba

JUBA – South Sudan’s main armed opposition group, SPLM-IO, is demanding the immediate appointment of General Johnson Olony Thabo, so that he can travel to Juba to attend planned Upper Nile state conference due in the capital early next year.

Olony, a controversial opposition commander, was nominated for governor of Upper Nile state by Dr. Riek Machar, the SPLM-IO leader and First Vice President of South Sudan, on June 24, along with two other colleagues.

Kiir however refused to appoint Olony, saying he is a warmonger who he said would hamper reconciliation efforts among the people of Upper Nile state and who are already divided along ethnic lines.

Speaking to Sudans Post on Friday, SPLM-IO director of information, Puok Both Baluang, said the main armed opposition group wants Olony to be appointed before the conference commence so he can take part in the reconciliation process among the Upper Nile state communities.

“We think the appointment of General Johnson Olony should not wait for the conference to take place based on the reasons that we have mentioned,” the senior opposition official who is now in Juba told Sudans Post on phone.

“We urge President Salva to expedite the appointment of General Johnson Olony so that he can attend this conference with his people, the people of Upper Nile state, to share with them his thoughts on how to govern the state during the transitional period and how to transform the state from the state of war it has been during the previous years to a state of peace,” he said.

The senior opposition official further stressed that there shouldn’t be any link between Olony’s appointment and the conference.

“There shouldn’t be any link regarding the appointment of General Olony with this conference because the conference is only for reconciliation it is mentioned in that press statement made by the minister in the office of the president,” he said.