SPLM-IO won’t be included in Abyei administration, says Kuol Deim Kuol

JUBA – The chief administrator of the disputed Abyei region Kuol Deim Kuol has said that he won’t include the main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) as he hasn’t yet receive directive from President Salva Kiir Mayardit to do so.

This comes after the presidency said in a statement following a meeting between President Kiir and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny who is also the leader of the main armed opposition that the two men have agreed for power-sharing in the three administrative areas.

In a statement on Saturday following a press conference in Abyei, Gen. Kuol Deim’s office said the chief administrator has dismissed the claims of power-sharing with the SPLM-IO as he has not yet been directed by the president to do so.

“The Chief Administrator Hon. Lt. Gen. Kuol Deim Kuol dismissed having received any official notice of the intention of SPLM in Opposition (SPLM-IO) to be part of the structures of Abyei Special Administrative Area government as circulated by some media outlets,” Kuol said.

SENIOR SPLM-IO OFFICIAL JOINS KIIR’S PARTY

In the same statement, the Abyei chief administrator’s office said senior SPLM-IO official Mayol Deng Dau had switched side to join the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) under President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

Mayol said he joined the SPLM-IO distance himself from “the unprocedural and unjust act of invasion exercised by the Commissioner of Twic County Hon. Deng Tong who is a member of SPLM in Opposition (SPLM – IO) over Ngok Dinka territories and which led to the killing of innocent lives and displacement of thousands from Aneet of Abyei Special Administrative Area without being held accountable by the SPLM IO leadership.”

He further stressed that he “believes in freedom of Speech which is guaranteed by the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan which Twic Commissioner breached without being held accountable by the SPLM in Opposition (SPLM-IO).”