Denver, July 8, 2014 (SSNA) — The newly defected Former Chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) Colorado Chapter Gideon Abraham has expressed his anger against Kiir’s government, saying anyone who is close to party’s elites in Juba knows that the alleged coup was a well planned political tactic by Kiir in an attempt to get rid of his political adversaries.
The disclosure comes just days after Abraham declared his defection to the opposition.
In an official statement obtained by the South Sudan News Agency, Abraham criticizes Kiir’s leadership for what he calls ‘total failure’ of management and accuses him (Kiir) of turning “simple party leadership dispute” into an unnecessary war.
“The simple party leadership dispute that could be resolved peacefully has been turned into a full scale civil war in the country by Salva Kiir”, Abraham said in the statement.
The former top SPLM official in the state of Colorado in the United States also said that the current crisis has created deep division between members of the ruling party.
“The SPLM members are now divided: SPLM pro-government, SPLM-IO, This division is not only in South Sudan, but also in SPLM Diaspora”, he observes.
Late last week, members of the SPLM all over the state attended a meeting in Denver, Colorado, where Abraham switched his support from the SPLM-led government to the SPLM-in Opposition headed by the South Sudanese Former Vice President Dr. Riek Machar.
Below is the full text of the press statement
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Colorado SPLM State Secretariat (Chapter) Defects to SPLM in Opposition
On July 5th 2014, the Colorado SPLM State Secretariat held its first meeting after the current crises in our new country, South Sudan. The meeting came during the visit of former member of South Sudan National Legislative Assembly (SSNLA), Hon. Reath Muoch Tang to Denver, Colorado. The meeting was attended by a large number of South Sudanese Community members from various states of The Republic of South Sudan. Hon. Reath explained to the members the root cause of the problems in our country. And it has become clear that there was no coup in Juba. Salva Kiir instigated this war in order to consolidate his power.
The genesis of the current crisis in South Sudan is known to all; it was an SPLM party dispute, but it took wrong dimension, and became a national problem. Thousands of lives were lost as a result of what could have been solved in a peaceful way. The simple party leadership dispute that could be resolved peacefully has been turned into a full scale civil war in the country by Salva Kiir, and the SPLM members are now divided: SPLM pro-government, SPLM-IO, This division is not only in South Sudan, but also in SPLM diaspora.
After the December 2013 incident in Juba —where thousands of people lost their lives— Pres. Kiir’s administration tried their best to convince the public and the world that what happened was a military coup, but failed to provide convincing evidence to support that claim. To those of us who are close to the leadership in Juba, we know very well that what happened wasn’t a coup, but rather a ploy by the administration to silence those who were critical to the chairman of the ruling party. Now that everything has become clear to the public due to the government’s failure to provide sufficient evidence to prosecute the SPLM members who were arrested due to false claims, the allegation of a supposed ‘coup’ is history. President Museveni was the last to dismiss the claim.
With the division in the party, and being an SPLM member, I have to identify myself with one of these groups. Due to the government’s indiscretions of false accusations to silence critics, and even going as far as to accuse them of an alleged coup –which would have put them on death row— I and those who are with me refuse to identify ourselves with such a government. Thus, the only option is for us to identify with the SPLM in opposition. As of now, we pledge our full support to SPLM-In-Opposition under able, competent and visionary leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny.
SPLM-IO OYEEEE