The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) on Thursday reopened its office in Akobo County, Jonglei State, for the first time in a decade.
SPLM Party Secretary-General Peter Lam Both and his accompanying delegation presided over the launching ceremony in Akobo, a stronghold of the opposition SPLM-IO.
“As the SPLM party, we launched the office so that we will be able to carry out the objective of the SPLM party of delivering services to the community. Since 2013, we did not have a presence in Akobo, but now is the time because there will be peace,” Lual Chol, the county party chairperson, told Radio Tamazuj.
Meanwhile, Khan Yiec, the party’s director for information, said the launching was a peace gesture.
“This is the first time we are hoisting the flag of the party since the war started in 2013. This means there is peace in the country,” he said.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) is led by the country’s president Salva Kiir.
President Salva Kiir, First Vice President and SPLM-IO leader Riek Machar, and other political figures signed a revitalized peace agreement in 2018 that ended five years of civil war.
The end of the transitional period was scheduled for 2022 but was pushed back to December 2024 due to the lack of progress on many provisions of the agreement. Elections are due to be held before the end of the transitional period.