Former SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum Okech returned to Juba this morning accompanied by the Kenyan Defense Minister after more than one year in exile in Kenya. He is expected to meet with President Salva Kiir to discuss the Arusha Reunification Agreement.
Speaking on Monday at Juba Airport, SPLM spokesman Akol Paul said that Pagan will meet with Chairman of SPLM Salva Kiir and the members of National Liberation Council.
“The arrival of Comrade Pagan Amum this morning is a continuation of the agreement that we have signed on the 21th January this year known as the Arusha Reunification Agreement,” said Akol Paul to the press shortly after Pagan’s arrival.
“People who choose to be the hostages of the past never see the future; we have made a choice not to be taken hostage by the past. A year plus or two years are enough for emotions to cool down, for bitterness and hate that come with the conflict to be ended. This country needs peace, need reconciliation, tolerance and needs unity for it’s to develop,” he said.
A member of Pagan Amum’s group, the so-called SPLM Former Detainees, John Luk said, “We have come back with Comrade Pagan Amum; today will be a great day for the SPLM and we believe that the meeting the SPLM leadership is holding will lay to rest the issue of the Secretary General which has been unresolved.”
The SPLM Former Detaines, also known as the G10, have recently declared that they recognize Salva Kiir as the legitimate chairman of the country’s ruling party. Before the start of the civil war members of the group had challenged Kiir in a press conference criticizing his leadership.
Amum and John Luk were among those arrested on the orders of President Salva Kiir during the targeted violence unleashed at the beginning of the civil war, which disrupted the political efforts of the party’s internal opposition to have him removed.
Defense Minister Kuol Manyang was among those who received Pagan Amum upon his arrival at the Juba Airport today. Kuol is also a member of the SPLM Political Bureau.