Opposition governor denies talks with government in Imatong State

Photo: David Otim (R), principal representative for the SPLM/A in Opposition in Uganda, and Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, chairman for the rebel faction’s national committee for political mobilisation, speak at a press conference in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on 22 September 2014 (ST)

A senior opposition official has denied the recent statement made by the governor of Imatong StateTobiolo Alberto that his government was in talks with the opposition to bring about peace in the state.

A senior opposition official has denied the recent statement made by the governor of Imatong StateTobiolo Alberto that his government was in talks with the opposition to bring about peace in the state.

“On behalf of the SPLM/A-IO movement in Imatong state and on my own behalf, this is totally a wild lie and I dismiss such with contempt. It is rubbish and no such a thing like that,” said the rebel-appointed governor of Imatong State Oyet Nathaniel Pierino.

“I want to overstate that the SPLM/A-IO is not fighting to be included in the national dialogue, or cantonment or any position in the country. Such claim by government authority especially at the level of a government or state government only speaks for the level of ideological bankruptcy and disorientation the regime has descended into,” said the rebel-appointed governor of Imatong state, General Pierino Nathaniel.

Nathaniel further said their forces remain intact under the command of opposition leader Riek Machar and that they are fully committed to the full pursuit of demand of the people of South Sudan.

“Federalism, democracy, liberty, justice, accountability and prosperity and not national dialogue and self-enrichment or a plate of food. If anything the national dialogue has been born dead and buried in Presidential palace,” he said.

The opposition official accused the Juba government of running a bankrupt of political program, claiming that the government is using an ethnic-shell mobilisation as a tactic to fight wars against other tribes in the country.