Addis Ababa, March 10, 2018 (SSNA) — A senior South Sudanese opposition leader Friday questioned Juba’s decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and expects to be a member of the Arab League. One political analyst branded the move as “questionable.”
The criticism came days after it emerged that South Sudan’s government submitted its application to the League, indicating interest in becoming a member.
“Moving the embassy to Jerusalem, then membership of the League of Arab States,” Dr. Lam Akol, the chairman of the National Democratic Movement (NDM) wrote on his Twitter account.
“Can someone lend Juba a compass?” he asked.
The South Sudan News Agency (SSNA) could not independently verify what exactly the NDM’s leader meant.
However, one independent South Sudanese political analyst told the SSNA that Akol post is an attempt to tell Salva Kiir that moving South Sudan’s Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will not only earn him new enemies, but also an automatic denial of his application.
“Dr. Lam is a very smart South Sudanese leader. He knows the consequences behind Kiir’s decision to move our embassy to Jerusalem,” political analyst Karlos Wichduel Gai told the South Sudan News Agency in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.
Karlos also disclosed to our reporters that desperation is the key to Kiir’s recent decisions.
“The President is desperate because he is in a very complex situation, the war of course. So, he is looking for any support from any country or leader,” he said.
Karlos further warned that Kiir would probably find himself in a bad company based on the level of desperation he is currently in, adding, “His [Kiir] decision is questionable beyond command sense of any reasonable analyst.”
South Sudan application was discussed Wednesday by foreign ministers of the League. However, it is not clear what the bloc has decided.