July 3rd 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s armed opposition group, the National Democratic Movement (NDM), led by Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin has denied that a new leader for South Sudan Opposition Alliance has been selected.
South Sudan opposition leader Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin (File/Supplied/Nyamilepedia)
This came a day after ex-chairman of the opposition consortium, Gabriel Changson Chang, issued a statement announcing the selection of Denay Chagor as the new leader.
Chagor is the leader of South Sudan United Movement (SSUM) which was led by General Peter Gatdet Yaka before his death in May this year.
In a brief statement to Nyamilepedia on Wednesday, David Lawrence Lual, the official spokesman for Dr. Lam Akol’s NDM, said the appointment of Chagor by Changson derails efforts to reunite the fractured opposition umbrella.
“The move from Denay and Changson is actually an attempt to derail the ongoing efforts to restore unity in SSOA,” Lual said. “Changson does not want the unity of SSOA [and] so…he is creating those chaotic moves.”
He said Changson was aware about a decision by the opposition to temporarily entrust Josephine Lagu with the leadership of the alliance until a new leader is elected pointing to a statement by an opposition spokesman allied to Changson last month in which he confirmed that Changson had relinquished the alliance leadership for Josephine to takeover.
“Changson is very aware of the new leadership arrangements and he himself affirmed that when his spokesman (Wazir Michael) made a statement [last month] to Nyamilipedia saying that Changson had relinquished his position as the chairman of SSOA to Madam Josephine Lagu,” Lual said.
He revealed that Changson had accompanied Josephine to the office of the National Pre-Transitional Committee (NPTC) to introduce the new alliance leader to them saying Josephine has been chairing meetings since he was entrusted with the leadership.
“Changson himself took Madam Josephine to the NPTC office and introduced her to the chair of the NPTC as the new SSOA chair,” he said.
“Madam Josephine is the one chairing all the leadership meetings all this time after the unification,” he added.
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