Seized Headquarters Sparks Fresh Tensions
The office of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition in Malakal was taken over on Monday after state security adviser El Tayib Ajak instructed Maj. Gen Paromi Angui to hand the premises to Agwelek forces, party secretary-general Michael John Jock confirmed.
The building, owned by the party since July 2023, sits in Hai El-Rai El-Masery beside Upper Nile University hostels and an orphanage.
Who Are the Agwelek Forces?
Agwelek fighters, once rebel allies, realigned with the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces after Gen. Johnson Olony returned to Juba in May 2023.
Maj. Gen Paromi Angui, Olony’s deputy, now oversees their units in Upper Nile, including the contingent that moved into the SPLM-IO office.
Competing Narratives from SPLM and SPLM-IO
Jock accused state authorities of orchestrating an illegal handover, calling it “a breach of the revitalized peace spirit”.
Acting SPLM chair Jago Nyawela rejected the claim, stressing that “party work is political, not military” and insisting the SPLM neither ordered nor executed the takeover.
Fractures Inside the Opposition Camp
The Malakal compound had already shifted to a breakaway SPLM-IO faction led by Peacebuilding Minister Stephen Par Kuol after insecurity closed the main office.
Muzamil Ojwok, state livestock minister and interim faction head, acknowledged that a senior Division 2 officer is now inside the premises pending relocation.
Implications for South Sudan’s Peace Roadmap
The takeover follows President Salva Kiir’s recent suspension of First Vice President Riek Machar, a move that has thrown the 2018 accord into renewed uncertainty.
Analysts fear that contests over symbolic spaces, such as party headquarters, could inflame mistrust ahead of long-awaited elections, yet officials on all sides publicly reiterate commitment to dialogue.