By Bida Elly David
South Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) and SPLM-IG, resolved a deadlock that hovered over Angelina Teny, owing to her appointment as a minister of Interior, on Tuesday evening.
Angelia, a former Minister of Defense and Veterans’ Affairs was sacked in early March by President Salva Kiir.
The president also swapped the defense ministry, formally allocated to the SPLM-IO led by Dr. Riek Machar with that of the Interior.
This move was protested by the SPLM-IO terming it a continuous violation of the revitalized peace agreement triggering a political stalemate between the two principals to the R-TGoNU.
Since then, the SPLM-IO Party had vowed to give sleepless moments to President Kiir, demanding that Angelina be brought back to the Defense Ministry.
But that wrangle is now the past as Angelina returned to the Transitional government as Interior Minister.
Speaking to No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper yesterday, Puok Bulang the acting press Secretary in the office of FVP Dr. Machar said they welcomed Angelina’s Appointment but with a condition to discourage any future violations.
“The Ministry of Interior is the same ministry as defense responsible for our internal security in the city of Juba and the capital. We recommended Angelina as a party to be appointed as the minister of interior,” he said.
He said the recent political tension between the opposition and SPLM-IG is not about Angelina, but the removal of a minister without adhering to an agreement.
“The deadlock was not on Angelina’s matter but rather on the violation of the agreement which was the removal of a minister without the consent of the SPLM-IO party,” Puok said.
Puok said the Sudanese government played a bigger role in ending the political deadlock between the rivals.
“They have submitted proposals to both parties, the leadership of the SPLM-IO, SPLM-IG on how to break or overcome the deadlock. We were hoping all this time to be discussed by the two principals and refrain from malpractices,’’ he added.
“Now that we have the Ministry of Interior replaced with defense, we don’t want the swapping to be a phenomenon. Now as a party, we have overcome this process since Hon: Angelina has been appointed back.”
Puok stated that despite the appointment of the interior minister, SPLM-IO still expects a deputy minister to the defense ministry as per the power ratio.
“Let us learn our lessons and be strict about the agreement and respect the source of the agreement and implement it in letter and spirit as agreed by the parties,” Bulang added.