By Bida Elly David
National Democratic Change (NDM) leader has returned to Juba to start preparation for the polls scheduled to take place in 2024.
Leader of one of South Sudan’s oppositions political parties, Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin, after being out of the country for three years, landed Juba International Airport (JIA), yesterday.
Opposition NDM party is a signatory to the 2018 peace agreement under the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA).
Speaking to the media on arrival, Dr. Lam Akol said he returned to show his commitment to the implementation of the peace agreement and hopes for the anticipated elections.
“I have come in order to continue the road that we started on September 12, 2018, and that is the peace process that we voluntarily agreed for,” he said. We agreed to do it, and I have not been far from it, and maybe physically I was not there.”
He said his absence in most of the talks doesn’t mean he hasn’t been taking part in the peace process. He now hopes that agreement materializes.
“To the next stage of the peace talks, we demand physical presence. If we were able to do the rest at a distance previously, this time we need to be physically present in order to take our land to the desired end,” he said.
The NDM leader further noted that distant engagement in peace implementation isn’t as crucial to addressing national matters as being present.
He reiterated the need to break down all differences within the political arena and start rebuilding the foundation that was earlier started in the past.
On the elections, he said, “we are prepared for the elections as part of the peace agreement. The election is a process, not an event. We are preparing for the election, whatever that preparation means.”
Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjami receives Dr. Lam Akol received at Juba International Airport/Photo: Radio Tamazuj
Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin, the minister of presidential affairs, on behalf of the government, welcomed Lam at Juba International Airport.
He said Dr. Lam has been one of the key founders of the liberation struggle that resulted in the independence of the young nation.
“It is the same story of the liberation struggle since 1983 up to now; he has also been a co-member and a very strategic member in our struggle,” he continued.
“He has decided to come home, and so the President said I must come and receive him on his behalf and on behalf of the government and all the people of South Sudan,” Benjamin stated.