‘Not convinced’: VP Abdelbagi rejects VP Taban journey restriction declare

South Sudan’s Vice President for the Service Cluster, Hussein Abdelbagi Akol, has dismissed claims by fellow Vice President Gen. Taban Deng Gai that he was prevented from touring to his dwelling space in Unity State, calling the allegation “baseless.”

Speaking final month at a prayer service for victims of the Abiemnhom assault, Deng stated his request to journey to Unity State since Christmas had not been accepted by the president’s workplace.

He additionally stated he had been unable to fulfill President Salva Kiir for practically a yr, blaming obstruction by officers throughout the presidency. However, he met Kiir days after making the grievance public.

During the identical occasion, Deng recounted a dialog with Abdelbagi wherein they mentioned lethal intercommunal violence between the Ruweng Administrative Area and neighboring Unity State.

“I told him [Abdelbagi], ‘You people don’t assist us so that we can resolve problems facing our people,’” Deng stated.

Deng, who first grew to become first vp in 2016 after changing Riek Machar throughout a breakdown within the 2015 peace course of, returned to the vice presidency in 2020 below a 2018 power-sharing settlement between Kiir and Machar, who’s now detained and going through treason fees.

Under the 2018 peace deal, South Sudan has 5 vice presidents representing the events to the settlement.

Speaking at a memorial service in Juba on Saturday, April 4, for the late chief Tungwar Kueigwong Reat of the Leek Nuer group, Abdelbagi rejected Deng’s account and urged leaders from Unity State to prioritize peace and cooperation.

“Taban said recently that I rebuked him. I talked to him and told him, ‘Taban, you are now the prominent leader from Bentiu, because now Dr. Riek is in prison, but you are free and Tut [Gatluak] is around. There are problems in Bentiu, including killings and fighting with your neighbors who are actually part of your people. What is the reason for fighting when those are your people? And you are there and cannot resolve the issue? So I told him that,’” Abdelbagi stated.

Abdelbagi, who hails from Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, stated he was not satisfied by Deng’s rationalization that he had been blocked from touring to Unity State since December.

“I am not convinced by what he said, that he was not allowed to go to Bentiu. It is baseless. If I were a vice president from Bentiu, whether from SPLM or SPLM-IO, and if there were a problem there, I would bring all the people of Bentiu together to work with me for the sake of Bentiu and the development of the area,” he stated.

He stated divisions amongst political leaders had been fueling insecurity and warned that continued disunity may price Unity State its illustration within the nationwide authorities.

“You people are not working together, and that is why there is no peace in Unity State. Your people will continue to die, and you will continue to lose your seats in the national government because of disunity,” he stated.

The memorial service, held in honor of Sultan Tungwar, additionally grew to become a platform for requires unity, accountability, and management to finish violence in Unity State.

Tungwar, born in 1936 in present-day Unity State, rose throughout the Leek Nuer group to turn into a distinguished conventional chief. He started his management profession in 1969 as a border chief mediating between the Misseriya and Leek Nuer communities, later serving as sub-chief, deputy head chief in 1975, and head chief in 1985.

He additionally held authorities roles, together with head of an attraction courtroom in 1999 and county commissioner in 2001.

Tungwar, the daddy of the present undersecretary within the Ministry of Water Resources, Lam Tungwar, died on April 2, 2023.