Politicians from Lol state, which was carved out of parts of former Western and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states, have rejected a proposal by supporters of Paul Malong Awan, chief of general staff of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), which is the official army of South Sudan, to remain the overall head of the SPLM branch offices in the three states.
“That cannot work. There is no reason for unified leadership. This is not in the SPLM constitution. It is not in the constitution of the Republic of South Sudan. So we don’t know from where this idea came. We don’t know the basis,” said Aguer Alic, a member of the national legislative assembly in Juba.
Jacob Dau, another national member of parliament in Juba also said they encourage cooperation between the communities and state governments without any area imposing control over the rest.
“The presidential Establishment Order was clear. It created three separate states of Lol, Aweil State and Aweil East State. This means separate structures at all levels, including party structures all over the country and Lol state is no exception,” said Dau.
Meanwhile, Deng Nguac, a member of state parliament, said in a statement rejecting the same idea that people from the area were shocked and dumbfounded on hearing the idea being floated by supporters of the chief of staff.
“We the members of parliament of former Northern Bahr el Ghazal State who now fall under Lol State have rejected the call for a United SPLM under Paul Malong Awan because we are a separate state with our constitutions, cultures and 17 tribes compared to the other two states of Aweil and Aweil East states which have only two tribes,” reads part of a statement from the MPs.
“Our SPLM chairmanship should be separate as we are a separate state with different resources and different political ambitions with variety of norms and cultures from our tribes,” said Deng Nguac
He accused Malong of having mobilized politicians and other senior army generals to back him up to remain as the SPLM chairman and community leader for three states without basis.
“He came to Aweil with senior army generals and officials and held meetings with them to mobilize for him support for SPLM chairmanship for three states. This will not work. We can’t accept this at all. He is campaigning for this post but I must tell you the people from Greater Aweil West and North counties do not want to hear this and this dream will never materialize as far as we are concerned,” said Deng.
File photo: Paul Malong