SSOMA raises alarm over flood menace

The South Sudan Opposition Movement Alliance (SSOMA) has expressed concerns over the alarming flooding in the country.

The umbrella party called on aid agencies to support the affected population to prevent the adverse effect.

“The South Sudan Opposition Movement Alliance (SSOMA) is witnessing with great concerns the rising water levels in the Nile River, and continuous torrential rains in the region leading to major catastrophic floods, and humanitarian disaster in areas along the Nile River banks and beyond,” the party noted in a statement released yesterday.

“Therefore, SSOMA is calling and urging the local and the international humanitarian organizations in the region and South Sudan in particular, to render the needed help to the suffering fellow South Sudanese,” SSOMA added.

Thousands of people across the country—mainly from the greater Jonglei and Unity states— have been displaced and their livelihoods destroyed by the recent flash floods.

Last month, the Ministry of Humanitarian and Disaster Affairs said the government had a shortage of resources and could not respond to the need of the victims after declaring the flood a “national disaster” in August.

 “Fellow South Sudanese, SSOMA feels your pain and suffering and we are in solidarity with you. We assure you things will get better shortly and hopefully, you will truly reap the fruits of your sacrifices for independent South Sudan,’’ the party noted.

SSOMA, the holdout group comprising the Real Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (R-SPLM), National Democratic Movement Patriotic Front (NDMPF), and National Salvation Front (NAS), are to ink the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.

Talks between the government and SSOMA were yet to resume following President Salva Kiir’s suspension of the negotiations in September this year over the violation of the 2017 Cessation of Hostility Agreement (COHA) and January 2020 Declaration of Principles by the latter.

Last week, the Secretary-General of Sant’Egidio Paolo Impliazzo said talks were underway to drag the parties back to the negotiation table.

After meeting President Kiir on October 9, the Sant’Egidio Chief Mediator, Impagliazzo expressed optimism in the resumption of the talks between parties to make revitalized peace inclusive and ending the conflict in the country.

“We have discussed the way forward to the Rome initiative because there are some difficulties, but we discussed the possibilities of how to overcome those difficulties, we will now start discussing the possibility to resume the talks with SSOMA,” said Impagliazzo.