By Abebech Tamene
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) - A minister in South Sudan’s unity government announced his resignation Monday in a further sign of the breakdown in the peace between President Salva Kiir and former rebels.
Lam Akol told a news conference in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa he had stood down as agriculture and food security minister.
Referring to a peace deal signed last August that ushered in a transitional government after a two-year civil war, Akol said: “Since the agreement is dead and there is no free political space in Juba, the only sensible way to oppose this regime so as to restore genuine peace to our war-torn country is to organize outside Juba.
“History teaches us that whenever the security arrangements of any peace agreement collapse the whole agreement collapses.”
He said he would be working to build a “broad national front to lead our relentless efforts to save our country from division and disintegration”.
Last month, violence between Kiir’s forces and rebel troops led by Riek Machar left hundreds dead. Machar, who had been first vice president in the unity administration, has since fled the capital and been replaced by Taban Deng Gai, the rebels’ chief negotiator during peace talks.
Akol said the violence in South Sudan’s capital Juba was “premeditated and well-planned”.
“This government has no concern for its people and its continuation is to give it license to kill more South Sudanese,” he said. Akol said Kiir had clamped down on the media and installed Gai as a “poodle” while his soldiers seek to bring in Machar “dead or alive”.
He added: “The genie is out of the bottle and the last laugh will not be theirs.”
South Sudan’s civil war began in 2013 after Kiir sacked his Cabinet and accused Machar of instigating a failed coup. It was brought to an end by peace talks hosted by the IGAD trade bloc of African nations.
The fresh fighting has seen at least 300 people killed and thousands fleeing to neighboring states.