Kiir's faction,Taban's group skip reunification meeting in Uganda

[Elisabeth Janaina]

Kiir's faction,Taban's group skip reunification meeting in Uganda
File photo
File photo

Two factions of South Sudan's SPLM party in Juba have failed to show
up for a meeting alongside former political detainees last week in
Uganda to lay out important steps toward reunification of the
fragmented party in the country.

The ruling party fractured in December 2013, leading to the ongoing
civil war that has killed thousands and forced millions to seek
refugees in neighbouring countries.

Those who skipped the meeting in Uganda include the faction loyal to
President Salva Kiir and the SPLM-IO breakaway group in Juba led by
First Vice President Taban Deng Gai.

But representatives of the faction made up of senior party officials
who were detained when the conflict began in December 2013, travelled
to Uganda for the meeting but was adjourned indefinitely due to the
absence of the two factions.

The former detainees’ spokesman Kosti Manibe Ngai told Radio Tamazuj
today that the reunification meeting did not take place because the
two teams from Juba failed to show up in Uganda last week.

“Until the days passed and we gave up. The Ugandan government was
making contacts after that and we still don’t know the results of the
contacts,” he said.

He pointed out that their group didn’t know the reason for the two
delegations’ failure to come for the meeting.

“We can also guess that probably they are not interested. Maybe they
have decided that the process is no longer useful to them, so that is
only a guess. All we know is that they failed to show up and that they
did want to go,” he said.

“It was not because of means because the Ugandans sent them tickets
and the hotel accommodation was free,” he added.

Attempts by Radio Tamazuj to contact acting secretary general of SPLM
party Jemma Nunu Kumba and SPLM-IO secretary general Dhieu Mathok were
not successful.