South Sudan politician splits from main party

KHARTOUM, June 6 (Reuters) – An influential politician from semi-autonomous south Sudan said on Saturday he was quitting the leading leading Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) to form a new party.
His announcement before February elections comes at a time when a 2005 north-south peace deal looks increasingly fragile. Analysts worry about unity in the south which was ravaged by two decades of war that included south-south fighting.
“The party is called SPLM-Democratic Change,” former foreign minister Akol told Reuters.
Akol said he took the step because of what he said was the disappointment felt by southerners in the leadership of the SPLM since they set up the southern government in 2005.
It was not immediately clear how many members of the SPLM would side with Akol’s new party.
Some early members of SPLM-Democratic Change wanted to keep their membership secret for now, Akol said when asked who was on board. “It’s a spilt not a splinter,” he added.
An SPLM official was dismissive about the move.
“There is no split in the SPLM. It is very strange … he is free to set up his own party but we don’t see why he should use the name,” said senior SPLM member Kosti Manibe.
The 2005 peace deal gave the southern rebel SPLM seats in Sudan’s national parliament and cabinet jobs as well a 50 percent of oil revenues from southern wells.
“They have received $7 billion and have nothing to show for it,” Akol said, adding members of his party would run for all seats available in the February polls but not Sudan’s presidency because his party lacked the necessary funds.
Akol and other senior commanders split from the main rebel army during the war, leading to a period of south-south fighting in the early 1990s.
The two sides later mended the rift and Akol became foreign minister after the peace deal. He left the post in 2007.
Southern officials said at the time he was seen as being too close to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s ruling north-based National Congress Party.
The SPLM’s Manibe said on Saturday Akol had neither resigned nor been dismissed from the SPLM party despite the announcement. (Reporting by Skye Wheeler; Editing by Matthew Jones)