The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State has announced that the long-standing dispute between the state governor and state party chairman Tong Akeen Ngor, and political activist Bona Bak Apeny has been resolved.
Bak, the former Aweil State SPLM youth league chairperson and a critic of Governor Akeen was arrested for a day in late June following directives by the governor, days after he posted on Facebook that the government was not truthful and was inflating the quantities of sorghum, popularly known as dura, it had imported from neighboring Sudan.
He was later released on 29th June 2021, without due process.
However, speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday the state SPLM secretary-general Stephen Ayaga, said the duo had reconciled and buried the hatchet at the party headquarters.
“Our motto at this movement is peace, reconciliation, and unity. And for that reason, the reconciliation between comrades Bona Bak Apeny and the party chairman and the state governor Tong Akeen Ngor, the reconciliation procedures were so positive,” he declared.
For his part, Bak said their differences had been resolved and promised to work with the governor.
“I finally reconciled with my governor Hon. Tong Akeen Ngor. And the reason I decided to reconcile with him is that if you voted for someone, it simply means you can accept whatever he does. During the Sudanese general elections in 2010, I voted for President Kiir Mayardit who appointed Governor Tong Akeen. Therefore, I don’t see any reason I can fight with a governor who was appointed by my elect-president,” he said.
Activist Santino Deng Ngong, the Executive Director for Aweil Community Based Organization Forum (ACBOF), welcomed the agreement and invited all South Sudanese to foster peace and unity.
“I appreciate the spirit of peace in the people of Aweil on behalf of the civil society organizations. We welcome it and this is a positive approach for all of us as South Sudanese. If there are differences, we reconcile and continue to work together,” he concluded.