JUBA, September 20, 2023 - In a recent interview conducted from Kampala, Uganda, former Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) Chief of General Staff, General Oyai Deng Ajak, revealed concerns about plans to mobilize a significant force aimed at what he terms the country's "second liberation." 

General Ajak, who had also served as the Minister of National Security and Minister of Investment before South Sudan's secession in 2011, expressed his frustration with the current administration led by President Salva Kiir, indicating that his absence from the country was due to marginalization. 

 The ex-SPLA Chief of Staff alleged that President Kiir had manipulated leadership structures within the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) for personal gain, deviating from the original vision and principles for which people had twice taken up arms. 

"I have not rebelled. I am here because Salva Kiir does not want me in Juba," asserted Ajak during the interview. 

General Ajak recounted his history of conflict with President Kiir, citing that during his tenure as SPLA Chief of General Staff, he was accused on four separate occasions of conspiring to remove Kiir from his roles as President, Commander-in-Chief of the SPLA, and Supreme Commander of the other organized forces. 

In 2013, as discussions about reforms within the ruling party escalated, violent conflict erupted, leading to Ajak's arrest. Following mediation by former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, he entered exile in 2014, joining the former detainees allowed to stay in Kenya. 

While some members of this group, including former SPLM Secretary-General Pagan Amum, returned to South Sudan under the 2015 Arusha Reunification Agreement, Ajak chose to remain abroad, leaving questions about his official position unanswered. 

Ajak's neither explicit allegiance to Amum nor the formation of his own faction has fueled speculation about his affiliations, with some connecting him to Amum and others suggesting a loose alliance with the former detainees participating in the Transitional Government of National Unity. 

As General Oyai Deng Ajak's warnings reverberate within South Sudan and beyond, his remarks highlight the country's ongoing political complexities and divisions, emphasizing the need for dialogue and reconciliation to pave the way for a more stable and prosperous future. 

The former chief of staff of SPLA said he will only return to Juba with AK 47s, and they are looking for AK47s, he further said he is in contact with SSPDF, and he will be using the same army to dislodge Salva Kiir from power either this year or next year. Gen Ajak expressed his disappointment with the way the children and wives of the fallen heroes have been neglected and left to live in harsh conditions in internally displaced camps within Juba and other places. 

Gen Ajak said his record with SPLA was clear, he built the army and under him as General Chief of staff, he procured many modern military Armours, he said Salva Kiir dismantled the national army by creating a tribal private army or militias in t the country. 

SSLN