Mabior Garang de Mabior: Why I am resigning from the revitalized government of national unity

Official Resignation Letter from Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGONU)

H.E. Dr. Riek Machar Teny,
The First Vice President,
Republic of South Sudan,
Juba.

03/06/2020

Your Excellency,

Thursday, June 04, 2020 (PW) —– Please accept this letter as my formal resignation from the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU). I appreciate the trust and confidence Your Excellency expressed by appointing me to such a crucial position. However, it has become abundantly clear that our partners in peace – the SPLM/SPLA (IG) – have no intention of implementing the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), the only way we can restore some semblance of sanity to our nascent Republic.

As Your Excellency is aware, I am among the many SPLM/SPLA (IO) cadres who have been suspicious of the intentions of a regime which insists on implementing the Agreement without security arrangements.

I personally protested and brought it to Your Excellency’s attention that I could not put my hand on the Bible and swear on a lie – an illegitimate R-TGONU – and so I declined to participate in it. I finally grudgingly accepted after Your Excellency attempted to convince me that it was for the sake of “peace”. In addition to your counsel, I was pressured by a cross section of our civil population and so I agreed to join the so-called Unity Government for the sake of peace and gave the condition that if we had not started implementing the Agreement after more than three months, I would resign.

Your Excellency,

The security situation in the country has worsened; there is intercommunal violence in the three historical regions of Bhar-el-Gazal, Equatoria and Upper Nile, as well as in the three new administrative areas of Abyei, Greater Pibor and Rweng. This insecurity is directly related to our dismal failure to implement the security arrangements which should have been implemented in the pre-transitional period – it should have been the priority. I need not go into the mischief of that period , it is now history. It is neither the mandate of Mama Angelina (Minister of Defence) nor myself (Deputy Minister of Interior) as individuals to “bring security”, as it were. That is mischief!

The R-TGONU cabinet should have been formed after the implementation of the security arrangements which include the demilitarization of all major towns and civilian centres, disarmament of civilians and most importantly, the unification of forces. This has not been done. Consequently, we continue to suffer from the horrors of war – even in Juba – despite the pious proclamations coming out of the Presidency.

As if all the mischief is not enough, we are facing a global pandemic. I personally started self-isolating in early March since I am at risk due to my pre-existing condition, which is well known to the Public. I was still willing to work from home had the R-TGONU been serious about the welfare and prosperity of our people.

In this vein, I wrote letters to my Minister, to Your Excellency and to the President through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the letters, I requested to offer a proposal for a robust national response to the Covid-19 pandemic in our country – Pro bono publico – but I got no response. It is unfathomable for the Presidency not to call for an emergency meeting after 108 cases of Covid.19 were reported in one day. .

Your Excellency,

The reason we endorsed all the compromises Your Excellency made with President Salva Kiir was in the name of peace and ending the immense suffering of our peoples. Instead, our civil population has been rewarded with more death. I cannot continue to pretend that peace is being implemented. I do not blame the political leadership of the Movement; we had limited options under the intense international diplomatic pressure mobilized against us by the regime.

However, the writing is now on the wall. This resignation is only from my appointment as the Deputy Minister of Interior and not as a member of the SPLM/SPLA (IO) Polit-bureau – Chairperson for Information and Public Relations. I shall remain a member of our peoples’ struggle until we achieve our objective of bringing about fundamental change in our country.

I shall be ready for any other project – which promotes the welfare and prosperity of our civil population – assigned to me by the peoples’ Movement, and shall continue to serve with the countless committed cadres who where not appointed to any constitutional position.

Yours in the struggle,

Cpt. Mabior Garang de Mabior
Chairperson – National Committee for Information and Public Relations
SPLM/SPLA (IO)

About Post Author