SPLM/A-IO Challenges Caretaker Changes and Juba Dialogue
JUBA — A statement dated 9 October and attributed to SPLM/A-IO acting chairman Oyet Nathaniel Pierino rejects the way South Sudan's caretaker administration and inter-party dialogue were formed. It says the movement will not accept unilateral changes to the 2018 peace agreement without the signatories' consensus.
The document images supplied to South Sudan Press contain pages 1 and 3 of a four-page statement. Page 2 was not supplied, so this account covers only the text visible on those pages. We have not authenticated the original signed document or independently established its legal allegations.
What the supplied pages say
On page 1, the movement alleges that President Salva Kiir dissolved the transitional unity government on 22 September without consulting the parties to the 2018 agreement. It calls the Juba inter-party dialogue unrepresentative and objects to diplomatic support for the caretaker process.
Page 3 accuses the government of using regional diplomacy to secure support for unilateral steps and alleges political interference in the special court trying Riek Machar. Those claims about the judiciary and named participants are the movement's accusations; South Sudan Press has not independently verified them. The page also warns of risks to Machar and other detainees and repeats the demand for consensus before any change to the peace framework.
There is a substantive gap between this position and the Presidency's account of the dialogue. At its closing, presidential envoy Adut Salva Kiir urged implementation of steps toward the scheduled 22 December election and said further transition extensions were not open to negotiation, according to Radio Tamazuj's 9 October report. Watch the supplied closing-remarks clip →
Analysis: The statements reveal disagreement about who can speak for the peace agreement and what the dialogue can decide. A timetable for elections does not resolve whether excluded signatories will participate or how disputes about the caretaker administration will be settled. The Presidency, dialogue organisers, SPLM/A-IO, RJMEC and independent legal experts should respond to the specific procedural and legal questions.
Questions still open: Which signatories were invited and attended? What resolutions were adopted and published? What provisions authorise the caretaker changes? Will there be an independently mediated forum for those who reject the current dialogue?
