Opposition politician and leader of the National Democratic Movement (NDM), Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin, will return to the country on Monday, a party official said.

A signatory to the 2018 peace agreement under the umbrella of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), Dr. Akol left the country for Sudan in July 2020.

He is a fierce critic of how the peace agreement is being implemented by the Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU).

Mahmoud Akot, spokesman of Akol’s National Democratic Movement, told Radio Tamazuj over the weekend that their party leader will arrive in the capital Juba on Monday at 7:30 am.

According to Mahmoud, Dr. Akol’s return to Juba aims to oversee the party’s plans of launching offices and membership registration in the capital and the states.

“The chairman is coming from Nairobi, Kenya. He is coming back to stay in Juba because the party has plans and activities that require the presence of the leader,” he said.

The party official noted that the return of Dr. Lam Akol to the capital Juba will inject energy into the party’s activities and plans for the upcoming elections.

Dr Akol, who hails from Upper Nile State, is the former leader of the Sudanese Peoples’ Liberation Movement-Democratic Change (SPLM-DC), which he used to contest the presidency against President Salva Kiir in the 2010 elections.

On 4 August 2022, parties to the 2018 agreement signed on to a further two-year extension of the governance arrangements, postponing general elections in South Sudan until December 2024.