South Sudan’s First Lady Mary Ayen told a group of fellow citizens in Nairobi, Kenya on Wednesday that her husband President Salva Kiir should help reunite the split SPLM party.
Ayen said the SPLM has overcome division many times in the past and should do so again.
“I want the SPLM leadership to reunite, come back together as one family. We have always done that,” Ayen told a group of South Sudanese women.
She cited reunification of the SPLM with Anyanya Two in 1987, the reconciliation between John Garang, Riek Machar, and Lam Akol in the early 2000s, as well as the integration of Paulino Matip’s forces in 2006 as examples of how the SPLM has come together after violent splits.
“The president is one of those leaders who played a role in the unifications of the SPLM,” Ayen said. “He was doing that for peace and I think there is no reason for him not to do that now. He loves this country and wants it to be in peace and be a stable country.”
She called on women to stand behind the president and his administration, claiming that her husband has given women priority in national appointments and has empowered women across the country.
“He has placed us in our rightful positions and has promised to do more, so, I appeal to you to stand and support him to move the country forward,” she said. “I urge you to also to persuade your husbands to abandon rebellion because it is us the women who are suffering. If it is because of power, let them come and go to people and ask for votes. There is no need to fight. There is no need to die. Our people have had enough death and they are tired of war.”
Ayen was speaking in the Dinka language.