South Sudan MPs cancel visit to Sudan’s refugee camps amid divisions

A planned visit by a group of members of parliament representing the SPLM-IO to refugee camps in Sudan’s White Nile State was abruptly cancelled amid disagreements among the refugees over the visit, a lawmaker said.

A planned visit by a group of members of parliament representing the SPLM-IO to refugee camps in Sudan’s White Nile State was abruptly cancelled amid disagreements among the refugees over the visit, a lawmaker said.

A delegation of MPs from the SPLM-IO faction led by First Vice President Riek Machar is in neighbouring Sudan to meet South Sudanese communities and visit South Sudanese refugees to brief them on the challenges facing the implementation of the peace agreement.

Dr Kuong Dak, a member of South Sudan’s parliament representing Machar’s SPLM-IO faction, told Radio Tamazuj that they visited several refugee camps in Sudan, but they had to cancel a planned visit to Al-Ridais and Khor Al-Waral camps in White Nile State.

"We spoke with the camp leader there and they prepared themselves to receive us. But on the day we were ready to visit the camps, they called us and said Gen. Johnson Olony rejected our visit to the camps, so we could not go there," he said.

Meanwhile, John Orach, a member of the South Sudan Council of States representing Machar’s SPLM-IO faction described their visit to Sudan as important especially after fighting between factions of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO).

John has accused officials whom he did not name of circulating baseless information about their visit to the refugee camps in White Nile State.

"Some people spread baseless information that we were carrying money to bribe refugees in the camps, but that’s not true. We have brothers, sisters and mothers there in the camps, so we just wanted to disseminate peace messages there," he said.

Last week, the SPLM-IO lawmakers said South Sudan’s peace deal is doomed to collapse unless the parties can settle disputes and create a unified army.

The accord signed in September 2018 calls for the reunification of all fighters involved in the civil conflict, but the process has been marred by delays.

 A unity government that would prepare the country for elections was formed in early 2020. But even now, critical aspects of the peace deal such as security arrangements, transitional justice, and institutional reforms are behind schedule or completely frozen.

In early August, some leaders within First Vice President Riek Machar's SPLA-IO said they had deposed him as the head of the party and its military forces. The rival group led by Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual said Machar had “completely failed” to show leadership and greatly weakened the party’s position in the unity government.