The head of the External Relations Committee of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), Dhieu Mathok, has been elected secretary-general of the movement.
SPLM-IO Chairman Riek Machar’s spokesman announced the change in a press statement yesterday, saying he was elected by the National Liberation Council of the movement at the Pagak headquarters “in a democratic atmosphere.”
The statement authored by James Gatdet Dak also welcomed the launch of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) in Juba on Friday, even though the SPLM-IO did not participate in the meeting.
“Our representatives could not participate in the launch because the venue and timing were not agreed by the parties,” he said.
SPLM-IO signed a peace agreement with the South Sudanese government in August this year. The government and the rebel group were supposed to form a transitional government by the end of this month but that has not happened.
File photo: Dhieu Mathok with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in September 2014 (Photo: Foreign Ministry of China)