Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) politician Angelina Teny slammed the recent IGAD head of states summit ‘Protocol’ as an irrelevant document imposed as a solution to South Sudan’s 8-month civil war.
In an interview with Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday, Teny said the document put forth by IGAD head of states contradicts the ongoing peace talks between the two warring factions and stakeholders.
“We refused to sign it because we wanted to discuss that document with the government delegation and stakeholders,” she said.
The document outlined terms for a transitional government but was only signed by Salva Kiir and other IGAD heads of state. It was not signed by any of the other South Sudanese groups participating in peace talks, which are the SPLM-IO, religious groups, civil society, political parties, and the former detainees.
Teny is the wife of rebel leader Riek Machar Teny, former vice president of South Sudan. During the Sudanese government of national unity she was the State Minister of Energy and Mining.
The former second lady noted that their firm position is to form a transitional government of national unity after a comprehensive discussion that identifies the root causes of the current civil strife in South Sudan.
“You know, the IGAD document was not a proposal, but rather a compulsory document because it had already been signed by the head of states and President Salva Kiir,” she said.
She said that the mechanisms put forward by the recent IGAD summit were lacking in accountability, likening the agreement to putting South Sudan under the control of IGAD in order to protect Salva Kiir’s government.
“For instance, IGAD had talked of its control over economic and security committees without any security arrangements,” she said.
Teny said the summit imposed the leadership of a transitional government without any agreement reached by the partied involved.
“For instance, if there is no security arrangement, who will protect the SPLA-IO representative in the position of prime minister in Juba?” she asked. “The incumbent president is not the right person to reunite the people of South Sudan in the coming phase.”
She dismissed the prime minister position proposed by IGAD as equivalent in powers to the current cabinet affairs minister. and accused the Juba government of fearing serious governance reform.
Denial of human rights abuses
Separately, Madam Angelina Teny lamented the dire humanitarian conditions of internally displaced people inside UN bases countrywide.
“I know that they are suffering, I also experienced the same suffering for almost three months after we ran from Juba to Jonglei state after the outbreak of conflict in December last year,” she said.
The opposition figure called on the international community to hold President Salva Kiir accountable for what she termed “genocide” in the nation’s capital Juba in December by targeting Nuer ethnic group.
Angelina denied violations of human rights from their side, saying the government misled the people and the world by inviting media to cover the abuses she says it had committed.
When asked about accusations of human rights violations committed by opposition fighters in Benitiu and Bor towns, Teny said there were no directly supervised killings by defected commanders compared to targeted killings against the Nuer in Juba.
“In Juba, President Salva Kiir had put on military attire of Tiger Battalion,” she said. “But…the truth will appear one day because investigations are being carried out by AU commission of inquiry.”
“You know, when we arrived in Bor on 24 December under heavy artilleries, we found General Gadet personally telling the Dinka residents to cross the river to Dinka Aliab land,” Teny claimed.
Angelina admitted that heavy losses were incurred as a result of fighting and expressed her willingness to investigate whatever abuses were committed by the opposition.
Photo: Angelina Teny, ©Gurtong
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