Akol: ‘This is the climax of the political wrangling’
Infighting within South Sudan’s ruling SPLM party went public on Friday, December 6, after a group of prominent SPLM members including former Vice President, Riek Machar, and Rebecca Nyandeng, widow of the late SPLM leader John Garang, organised a press conference and accused President Salva Kiir of what they called dictatorial tendencies.
Zacharia Diing Akol
However, on Sunday, December 8, Vice President James Wani Igga organised a counter press conference to dismiss the criticism by Machar’s faction.
To understand what these back and forth arguments between rival wings of the SPLM mean for the future of the party and South Sudan, Charlton Doki spoke to Zacharia Diing Akol, a director at the Sudd Institute, a local think tank. Akol explains why Machar and his colleagues decided to go public at this particular time:
