SPLM-IO Crisis Deepens: Prof. Adwok Calls Interim Leadership a 'Coup'

Prof. Adwok The internal rift within South Sudan’s main opposition party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), has taken a dramatic turn following the appointment of an interim leadership in the absence of detained leader Dr. Riek Machar. Prominent South Sudanese intellectual and former minister, Professor Peter Adwok Nyaba, has condemned the move, labeling it a “coup” against the peace agreement. On April 9, senior SPLM-IO members in Juba installed Peacebuilding Minister Stephen Par Kuol as interim party leader. Losuba Ludoru Wongo was named deputy, and Agok Makur Kur was appointed interim secretary-general. The appointments came days after Machar was placed under house arrest on March 26, accused of inciting violence in Nasir County. Speaking to the media, Prof. Adwok dismissed the leadership changes as illegal and externally orchestrated. He warned that the move violated the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolutio...