Deng Athuai Mawiir, chairman of the South Sudan Civil Society Alliance, has apologized to President Salva Kiir after sharply criticizing him and his rival Riek Machar during remarks delivered last Monday.

The leading activist gave a forceful speech in the presence of Kiir in which he said the latter had no son fighting in the current war. He also said that Kiir and Machar had been making many “excuses” for refusing to make peace.

On the following day supporters of Kiir gave a press conference calling for the impeachment of Mawier from his position as head of the Civil Society Alliance. They demanded he apologize to Kiir.

Then the civil society chairman on Friday issued a written statement apologizing to Kiir. “I would like to offer an apology to the President… for my statements delivered at the national consultative conference on peace talks held in Freedom Hall, Juba on 24th November 2014. They were uncalled for and regrettable,” it reads in part.

“The unbearable suffering that our people have endured since the December crisis… coupled with the deliberate attempt by the organizers of the conference to sideline and silence the voice of the civil society alliance by omitting it from the list of speakers at the conference contributed a great deal to the way I delivered my statements.”

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday, Deng Athuai confirmed the authenticity of this statement.

Related coverage:

Supporters of Kiir call for apology from Deng Athuai (26 Nov.)

‘Kiir and Machar have no sons in the war’ (24 Nov.)