{"id":49403,"date":"2026-11-03T14:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T12:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=49403"},"modified":"2026-11-03T15:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T13:23:08","slug":"dr-riek-machar-confirms-regina-kaba-as-splm-a-io-acting-chairperson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/03\/dr-riek-machar-confirms-regina-kaba-as-splm-a-io-acting-chairperson\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Riek Machar confirms Regina Kaba as SPLM\/A-IO acting chairperson"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Yiep Joseph<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Former First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar has confirmed Regina Joseph Kaba as Acting Chairperson of the SPLM\/A-IO.<\/p>\n

Machar made the revelation while presenting his case during the 126th session of the ongoing trial involving him and other accused persons before the Special Court.<\/p>\n

The former first vice president rejected allegations that he commands the armed youth group commonly known as the White Army.<\/p>\n

He told the court that even Regina Joseph Kaba, whom he identified as the acting chairperson of the Sudan People\u2019s Liberation Movement\/Army in Opposition (SPLM\/A-IO), has no command over the youth armed group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not the commander of the so-called white army; even the person who is acting leader of SPLM\/A-IO, Hon. Regina Joseph Kaba, has nothing to do with the youth; she is not the commander of the white army,\u201d Machar said.<\/p>\n

His remarks come amid a deepening leadership dispute within the opposition movement following his detention in March 2025.<\/p>\n

The SPLM\/A-IO has since been divided, with rival factions supporting Regina Joseph Kaba and Nathaniel Oyet as acting leaders.<\/p>\n

Oyet has claimed the positions of acting chairperson and commander-in-chief, citing his position within the movement’s leadership structure.<\/p>\n

However, Kaba has received backing from sections of the Political Bureau and the SPLA-IO military command.<\/p>\n

The dispute intensified after competing leadership decisions and suspensions further divided the movement.<\/p>\n

Machar’s courtroom remarks have now drawn attention to the question of who holds legitimate authority within the SPLM\/A-IO.<\/p>\n

During his testimony, Machar also clarified that Kaba has no connection to the so-called White Army and does not command the armed group.<\/p>\n

Machar also addressed allegations surrounding the March 2025 Nasir incident, including claims that he and the White Army held 170 or 176 survivors hostage.<\/p>\n

He rejected the allegations, telling the court that he intervened to facilitate their evacuation from Nasir to Juba.<\/p>\n

He further denied instructing the late Major General David Majur Dak to surrender to the SPLA-IO during the fighting.<\/p>\n

Machar said he instead made efforts to ensure the general’s peaceful evacuation following a meeting of the Presidency.<\/p>\n

He described the surrender allegations as politically motivated, particularly by individuals who knew about his intervention.<\/p>\n

Machar also criticised speeches delivered during General Dak’s funeral in Juba on March 19, 2025, accusing some speakers of making remarks that amounted to hate speech.<\/p>\n

Turning to the history of insecurity in Nasir County, Machar told the court that more than 20 violent clashes occurred between SSPDF forces and local youth from Nasir and Ulang between 2020 and 2025.<\/p>\n

He identified the May 11\u201312, 2021, clashes as among the major early incidents.<\/p>\n

According to Machar, the violence began following a disagreement over the sale of an AK-47 rifle involving an SSPDF soldier and local youth.<\/p>\n

He said the SSPDF subsequently launched a retaliatory operation that resulted in the burning of several villages, including Kuot, Wunthow, Luakwin, Winjok and Gatban Kitbe.<\/p>\n

Machar argued that the recurring violence demonstrated that insecurity in Nasir had existed long before the March 2025 confrontation.<\/p>\n

His testimony also addressed the implementation of the 2018 Revitalised Peace Agreement, the unification of forces and the command structure of the transitional security arrangements.<\/p>\n

He maintained that the failure to complete the unification process was largely due to a lack of political will and financial support. The court was scheduled to resume proceedings on November 6, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Yiep Joseph Former First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar has confirmed Regina Joseph Kaba as Acting Chairperson of the SPLM\/A-IO. Machar made the revelation while presenting his case during the 126th session of the ongoing trial involving him and other accused persons before the Special Court. The former first[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":49295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Former-First-Vice-President-Dr-Riek-Machar-attending-to-his-lawyers-in-one-of-the-court-sessions-courtesy-photo-.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49403"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49406,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49403\/revisions\/49406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}