A faction of the opposition South Sudan Patriotic Movement (SSPM) which claims legitimacy of the party’s leadership has rejected claims by Agriculture Minister Hussein Abdelbagi Akol that he transferred thousands of the SSPM forces to the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF).
On Monday, Minister Hussein Abdelbagi, who leads a faction of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) and claims leadership of the SSPM, announced that he had placed forces under his command and their weapons under the authority of President Salva Kiir, the commander-in-chief of the SSPDF.
He said the move was “in the supreme interest of the Republic of South Sudan” and framed it as a transition from armed struggle to civilian political engagement.
But David Lawrence Lual, spokesperson for the SSPM faction led by presidential advisor Dr. Costello Garang Riiny Lual, dismissed the statements as “baseless” and “misleading” in an interview with Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday.
“Hussein does not have any mandate to represent SSOA because he was dismissed from SSPM, the party that nominated him to the presidency,” Lual said. He said Hussein was removed from SSPM on Feb. 20 following an internal party dispute and an alleged attempt to overthrow the party’s legitimate chairperson, Dr. Castello Garang.
SSOA is now divided into two factions: one led by Hussein Abdelbagi and another by Vice President Josephine Lagu, with both sides claiming leadership legitimacy.
“Membership in the SSOA alliance is contingent on active membership in one of the constituent parties,” Lual said. “Once Hussein lost his membership in SSPM, he automatically ceased to be a member of SSOA.”
Following his removal from the SSPM party, Lual said Hussein was replaced as vice president for services cluster representing SSOA in February 2025.
Lual also rejected Hussein’s claim that he handed over about 3,700 forces to the SSPDF, saying Hussein does not command any troops. “The SSPM forces were already assembled, trained, graduated, and integrated into the unified forces under the Revitalised Peace Agreement,” he said. The forces, previously stationed in areas including Aweil, Wau, Pantiit, and Masna Biira, are awaiting deployment under a unified command, he added.
“If Hussein is claiming to have 3,000 new forces, then the question is: where did they come from?” Lual said, warning that any fresh recruitment of troops after the 2018 peace agreement would violate the deal.
He urged peace monitoring bodies such as the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) and CTSAMMVM to investigate.
Lual also accused some government officials of interfering in the dispute, saying the national minister of information, Ateny Wek Ateny, facilitated the press conference where Hussein made the claims. He reaffirmed Dr. Castello Garang as the legitimate SSPM chairperson and SSOA deputy chair.
Under the 2018 peace agreement that ended South Sudan’s civil war, all armed groups were to be integrated into a single national army, but the process has been repeatedly delayed due to financial, logistical, and political challenges.
The transitional government is now preparing for national elections in December 2026 amid complaints from the SPLM-IO, led by detained First Vice President Riek Machar.