Disputes erupted among youth groups in Aweil South County in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State following the dissolution of the county youth association and endorsement of a new chairperson after the former leader was impeached.
On 4 December, youth delegates impeached the Aweil South County Youth Association Chairperson Muong Aleu Muong and endorsed Ronald Thiel Garang Adim as the new chairperson. A new executive body was also formed.
The newly endorsed youth chairperson confirmed to Radio Tamazuj that he had indeed assumed office.
“My name is Ronald Thiel Garang Adim and I am the newly installed chairperson of Aweil South County Youth Association. I assumed power after the removal of Muong Aleu and I am currently preparing my activities at the MBC Hotel in Aweil town,” he said. “I am engaging UN staff to help me establish a physical office for the youth association next week and I also bought five plots because the youth did not have an office in the county. After an assessment is made, the office will be established immediately.”
The impeached former chairperson, Aleu, rejected his removal and said the procedures of impeachment were not followed.
“As the Aweil South County Youth Association, we have procedures through which the chairperson is impeached in our constitution,” he said. “If a chairperson is to be impeached, three meetings must be held consecutively to allow the members to raise complaints against a chairperson, an opportunity for correcting the claims in the second meeting, and in the third meeting the suspension following the impeachment by the General Assembly.”
Meanwhile, Aweil South County Commissioner Luka Thel Thel strongly condemned the newly installed youth leader and said the latter violated the presidential order banning military personnel from involvement in community association matters and politics.
According to the commissioner who is a member of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), the new youth leader is a Second Lieutenant in the SSPDF’s Military Intelligence.
“President Salva Kiir already decreed that any active military officer and noncommissioned officers from the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) or other organized forces are not allowed to participate in community groups or politics,” he said. “What caused this officer, Thiel, to cling to the youth power? I do not have any problem if the youth elect him unanimously.”