Supporters of Kiir call for apology from Deng Athuai
Supporters of President Salva Kiir within the South Sudan Civil Society Alliance (SSCSA) have begun an effort to oust the Alliance’s leader Deng Athuai from his position, only one day after he made statements about the president.
In an address at Freedom Hall in the capital Juba, in the presence of Salva Kiir, Deng Athuai accused the SPLM party of plunging the county into war and warned that it could end up like Muammar Gaddafi of Libya.
The civil society leader denounced the ongoing civil war and pointed out that Salva Kiir himself has no sons fighting in the war.
Immediately the next day, Kiir’s supporters within the group announced a disciplinary committee comprised of ‘civil society members’ has been formed to investigate Deng Athuai for his obnoxious criticism of the president.
They demanded an official apology from Deng Athuai to the president and to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
Kiir Malual, one of the pro-Kiir activists, said that the speech by Deng Athuai was unacceptable because it touched on the personality of Salva Kiir.
He denounced the speech by the SSCSA chairman, saying it does not represent the civil society organizations.
Malual called for the immediate impeachment of Athuai and said that a meeting should be held to select a new head of the civil society. He also claimed that the term of Dng Athuai in office has already elapsed since last April.
For his part, Deng Athuai denied any knowledge of the press conference held by the group claiming to be representing civil society organizations.
Athuai told Radio Tamazuj that those who held the press conference are civil society of the ruling SPLM party and that they speak on behalf of the government.
He accused them of complicity with the security agents in the recent assassination attempt against him in Juba. When asked about the claims that his term in office has come to an end, Athuai said “the civil society organizations that elected me to the position are to remove me – not government entities within the civil society.”
The leading activist asserted that he is fully responsible for his recent statement he made during the consultative meetings in which he blatantly criticized the main parties to the conflict.
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