Paul Malong Awan, South Sudan’s army chief of staff and the head of the SPLM party in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, has visited the state to discuss the president’s proposal to divide it into three parts. During his visit he met with community leaders to discuss leadership of the new states.
Kiir decreed on 2 October the South Sudan’s ten existing states would be dissolved and replaced by 28 new states. The decision, which has yet to come into effect legally, would split NBEG into Aweil State, Lol State and Aweil East State.
Malong on Sunday addressed his community at his home village of Malualkon during which he sought the support of the local population for the decision of the president.
He was accompanied on the trip by members of the national legislative assembly from the area and the presidential advisor Pio Tem Kuac Ngor, Akuot Deng Kawac and several others. He was accompanied to the meeting by the caretaker governor, Akot Deng Akot and the SPLA 3rd Division Commander Santino Deng Wol and several other officers.
Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly Akoon Diing Angok said on Sunday that Malong had not called the meeting in his capacity as the SPLA chief of general staff but in his capacity as the chairperson of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in the state and as a community leader.
Malong maintains his position as state SPLM party chairman despite having left the governorship last year to take his military post in Juba. Formally, the SPLA Act of 2009 forbids officers from political activity and from addressing political gatherings, but these provisions have not been enforced in Malong’s case.
Akoon said, “The chief of staff convened the meeting to brief the members of the community on the outcome of the meeting which was held in Juba by the Abiem community in Juba following the announcement of the presidential Establishment Order which made Aweil East to be a state from the rest of the counties of the current Northern Bahr el Ghazal state.”
Akoon said Malong has asked people to work together and unite in support of the presidential order and to continue to live together in peace under the leadership of the current administration in the state until the new state governors are appointed by the president.
The lawmaker revealed that the meeting chaired by Malong himself had resolved to allow Malualkon to be the capital of the proposed Aweil East state instead of Wanyjok as is stated in the Establishment Order. Another agenda of the meeting, he said, was the nomination of candidates for the position of governor of the proposed Aweil East State once the Establishment Order is approved.
Malong reportedly intends to remain as the SPLM chairman of the new Aweil East State. Jel Mangok Jel is considered his preferred choice for the chairmanship of the SPLM in Aweil State.
The general may find it more difficult to influence decisions on the leadership of Lol State, which would include not only Aweil West and North but also Raja County of the current neighboring Western Bahr el Ghazal State.
The current NBEG Governor Akot Deng Akot, an ally of Malong, hails from part of the proposed “Lol State,” but the area is also home of some opponents of Malong including SPLM-IO commander Dau Aturjong and other former members of government. Also of note, Rizig Zacharia, the incumbent governor of Western Bahr al Ghazal, hails from Raja County where the capital of the proposed Lol State is to be situated.
However, the state’s SPLM Deputy Chairperson Jel Mangok Yel has denied that Malong plans to appoint SPLM chairpersons and governors in the three newly proposed states of Aweil East, Lol and Aweil.
He explained that Malong did not come to the state to nominate SPLM leaders and governors of the new states but rather to mobilize support for the move to divide the state as proposed by Salva Kiir.
File photo