Martin Majut, a senior member of SPLM-Juba, today accused the non-armed opposition parties in Juba (PPLF) of holding talks with the rebel SPLM-IO and the exiled SPLM-Leaders factions on power-sharing in a transitional government to be negotiated at upcoming peace talks in Addis Ababa.
He described politicians of the Political Parties Leadership Forum (PPLF) as ‘power-hungry’ and interested in taking leadership positions rather than peace.
Majut said that some members of the PPLF delegation at the last round of Addis Ababa talks “developed a very sad appetite for power and they are sitting with the former detainees and the rebels.”
“They think that if they join together they will constitute the majority,” he added.
Majut would appear to be referring to political maneuvering among the delegations of the SPLM-Leaders, SPLM-IO, and PPLF ahead of the resumption of peace talks in Addis Ababa. These parties have been in discussions over the structure and composition of a transitional government of national unity.
None of the groups signed a ‘Protocol’ document proposed at the last IGAD summit that would have maintained Salva Kiir in power as both head of state and head of government.
Majut, who belongs to the SPLM faction loyal to Salva Kiir, today questioned the legitimacy of the leader of the PPLF delegation, Lam Akol of the SPLM-DC party, saying the delegation should be led instead by a representative of SPLM-Juba appointed by Salva Kiir.
This would put SPLM-Juba in control of two separate delegations at the peace talks – the government delegation and the PPLF delegation.
Majut’s position echoes that of the Cabinet Minister Martin Elia Lomuro who earlier this week appeared on state television denouncing Lam Akol’s leadership of the PPLF and saying the SPLM-Juba leader Salva Kiir should be considered the head of PPLF.
Lomuro belongs to a minor political party aligned with SPLM-Juba. Last July he was publically excluded from the PPLF delegation when members of the opposition platform accused him of lying, intimidation and attempting to take over leadership of the PPLF.
In remarks aired on state television this week, Lomuro also accused some of the PPLF constituent parties of not having legal status in South Sudan. He made the same charge in late July, claiming a number of the PPLF opposition parties were “illegal and are not allowed… to go and participate in the peace talks.”
Lomuro’s objections in July were ignored by the IGAD mediators and by security authorities in Juba, who permitted the PPLF delegates to travel to the Addis Ababa peace talks in spite of Lomuro’s claims as to their illegality.
SPLM-Juba, the party headed by Salva Kiir, is nominally a member of PPLF but did not participate in the selection of the group’s delegates nor in the forming of its political platform. The SPLM-Juba politician Martin Majut today however revived the SPLM-Juba claim that PPLF is headed by the Chairman of SPLM-Juba not anybody else. He said that if people are going to the talks to represent the Political Parties then that group should be led by a member of SPLM-Juba and should be appointed by President Kiir.
He accused the PPLF delegates and the ‘former detainees’ group (SPLM-Leaders) and civil society members at the peace talks of being overly ambitious and seeking a share of power in the transitional government.
Majut and the other SPLM-Juba members comprising the government delegation are expected to leave for Addis Ababa this Saturday for the peace talks set to resume on Monday. He said they will see whether the leadership of the Political Parties (PPLF) delegation will change their representatives or not.
Meanwhile, the PPLF delegation leader himself, Lam Akol speaking to Radio Tamazuj today dismissed claims by Martin Elia that he was ousted from the PPLF leadership, saying, “They are not members of the Political Parties [PPLF].”
“That is the voice of the government trying to ensure that no other voice other than that of the government is heard in the negotiations,” he said, referring to Lomuro.
Lam Akol emphasized the independence of the PPLF from the government. He challenged the politicians who appeared with Martin Elia on SSTV claiming to be members of PPLF saying. “All of them are government. Show me one party there that is not government.”
He pointed out that Martin Elia has not been part of any of the meetings of PPLF nor the discussions on making the position papers of the opposition platform. “The people of Martin Elia and the others are not part of the membership.”
In an interview to be aired by Radio Tamazuj, the SPLM-DC chairman said that Martin Elia and the politicians aligned with him are already represented by the government delegation and they should not try to intrude on the PPLF delegation.
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