South Sudan's former army chief Paul Malong Awan has asked the country’s president Salva Kiir to quit urgently for the sake of the country.
Malong told Radio Tamazuj on Thursday that Kiir should step down peacefully for the sake of peace, accusing his former boss of failing to unite the people of South Sudan.
The South Sudanese general said the ongoing efforts for peace through the revitalization process will not bring about lasting peace in the country. “The current leadership is the cause of the problems. Do you think if politicians agree to share power will bring peace in the country? I don’t think it will bring back the refugees,” Malong said.
“If there is a new leadership in the country, people can come together and return to the country. Nobody will return to the country under the Kiir administration,” he added.
Malong, who is also among three South Sudanese officials sanctioned by the United States and Canada last year for allegedly obstructing peace efforts and benefiting from the ongoing civil war, said sanctions will not bring about peace in South Sudan.
“Sanctions would affect any South Sudanese because if not because of the ongoing war, the resources should have been used for development, so the problem is the current leadership,” he said.
Malong said he wants to be included in the ongoing talks between the government and the opposition in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.” I want to be part of the peace talks so that people can listen to what I want to say. “My views are not different from the demands that the current leadership must go so that South Sudanese can go back home,” he said.
General Malong was widely regarded as a close ally of President Kiir after he mobilized militias to fight for the Kiir administration when the civil war broke out in the country.
But in May 2017, Malong was removed and placed under house arrest in Juba before being allowed to leave the country in November 2017 to seek medical attention in Nairobi.
Several rights groups have on several occasions accused General Paul Malong and his militia of committing atrocities on civilians before being sacked by President Kiir.
South Sudan’s civil war has created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world.