My Appeal to SPLM-IO Leaders: Stop the Internal Crisis Before It Becomes Another War

I am appealing directly to the leaders of the SPLM-IO: please stop fighting one another in public.

Whatever disagreements exist within your leadership, take them behind closed doors and resolve them through dialogue, mediation, reconciliation, and principled political negotiation. The public exchange of accusations, counteraccusations, and competing claims of legitimacy is dangerous. If you continue on this path, you may unintentionally create another internal conflict that will cost innocent South Sudanese lives while those responsible for the larger national crisis remain untouched.

I say this as someone outside the SPLM-IO organizational structure but deeply concerned about its political mission and the suffering of our people.

What is happening?

At a time when South Sudan remains trapped in political instability, insecurity, displacement, humanitarian suffering, and the incomplete implementation of the peace agreement, why has internal confrontation become the priority?

Millions of South Sudanese have been displaced since the country’s civil wars began. The World Bank and United Nations have repeatedly documented the devastating consequences of conflict: displacement, destroyed livelihoods, weakened institutions, food insecurity, and dependence on humanitarian assistance. South Sudan has already paid an unacceptable price in human lives.

The situation involving Dr. Riek Machar and other political leaders should be a matter of national and international concern. Restrictions on political participation, movement, communication, access to services, or medical care—wherever they occur—including security threats should never be normalized in a country supposedly moving toward peace and democratic governance.

Meanwhile, ordinary South Sudanese remain trapped in displacement camps and communities affected by violence, with inadequate access to basic services and security.

So, is this really the moment for SPLM-IO to turn its guns inward politically or otherwise?

Absolutely not.

History offers important lessons

Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk did not resolve South Africa’s crisis by destroying one another. They negotiated.

The leaders of Northern Ireland did not end decades of conflict because they suddenly agreed on everything. They built mechanisms for dialogue, compromise, power-sharing, and reconciliation through the Good Friday Agreement.

The SPLM/A itself experienced reconciliation between Dr. John Garang and Dr. Riek Machar in 2002, an important step in rebuilding internal cohesion during the period that ultimately led to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Colombia’s peace process similarly demonstrates that ending prolonged conflict requires difficult negotiations, institutional reform, reconciliation, and sustained commitment, even when trust is extremely low.

That is leadership.

Leadership is not about proving who is right in a public argument. Leadership is preventing disagreement from becoming destruction.

My recommendations

1. Stop the public war of words.
Establish a confidential leadership dialogue immediately.

2. Go back to the drawing board.
Convene an inclusive SPLM-IO leadership conference involving all major factions and constituencies, including diaspora representatives.

3. Reconcile before reorganizing.
You cannot build an effective political organization on unresolved personal grievances. Create a structured reconciliation process involving respected elders, religious leaders, women, youth, and credible independent facilitators.

4. Bring other opposition-minded leaders into the conversation.
They can participate physically or virtually. South Sudan’s crisis is bigger than one organization.

5. Reorganize the movement.
Clarify leadership roles, decision-making authority, communication channels, accountability mechanisms, and political objectives.

6. Refocus on the BIG problem.
Your eyes must remain on the national crisis—not on destroying one another.

Remember: when leaders become consumed by internal battles, ordinary people pay the price.

Your constituents are watching. The displaced are watching. The families who have lost loved ones are watching. The international community is watching.

And history will judge whether you used this moment to deepen division—or to demonstrate statesmanship.

Stop. Talk. Forgive. Reconcile. Reorganize. Refocus.

Do not create another war among yourselves.

South Sudan has already suffered enough.

The people need peace more than they need another political victory.