South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The Common People’s Alliance (CPA) and Federal Democratic Party have been kicked out of the opposition coalition for being inactive in the coalition umbrella.
Gai Chol Paul, the Chairman of People’s United Forum who also doubles as the Chairperson for Coalition of Opposition Parties (COOP) said the membership of the two opposition parties has been revoked due to absence of their members during meetings.
“The membership of the Common People’s Alliance in the Coalition of Opposition Parties has been frozen, CPA has been absent in the country for long, when we are holding the meetings no one represents the party and that is the main reason for it’s dismissal,” Chol told journalists on Monday in Juba.
He said that the decision to revoke membership of the two parties was reached on Saturday, last week during the meeting of parties under the coalition.
The Federal Democratic Party is led by William Wiyual and Common People’s Alliance is under Deng Bol Aruai Bol.
“We also dismissed Federal Democratic Party whose leadership is under dispute, Federal Democratic Party under William Wiyual is part of the Coalition of Opposition Parties and the faction headed by Gabriel Changson Chang is part of South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA),” said Chol.
Chol said the move will give enough time to the two affected to resolve their internal issues and come back stronger as active members of the coalition.
“We have appreciated their contribution and support, however due to recent developments within the coalition, the leaders have decided to temporarily freeze the membership of the parties without active leaders in Juba and those with ongoing leadership disputes,” he said.
The Coalition of Opposition Parties (COOP) is comprised of 10 political parties including People’s Progressive Party led by Gabriel Kuot Akok, United People’s Party under Natale Ukele and African People’s Congress led by Deng-Bil William Aguer and others.