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Sudan Tribune

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Ex-legislator in Aweil makes controversial apology over expulsion

May 11, 2013 (JUBA) – A former member of state parliament in South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal has issued a signed apology, amid reports of bullying and allegations relating to a family dispute and legislators.

Hikma Ali Malek was one of six members of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) expelled from parliament last July over allegations they were collaborating with members from other political parties and participating in activities against the house.

A relative of Malek told Sudan Tribune on Friday that she had been pressured into making an apology about her alleged involvement in order to smooth over a family rift.

“The apology was prepared by someone else and she was only collected and drove to where she found herself before the governor Malong Awan and the paper was brought for her to sign”, the source said.

State member of parliament Angok Achuol confirmed that Malek has been “at odds” with her husband, former Aweil East commissioner Diing Aher, over her expulsion from the SPLM.

He backed claims that the legislator had bowed to family pressure and made an apology, purportedly to avoid being isolated by her in-laws.

“I am told Hikma Ali Malek has been forced by the situation to apologise. She was under big pressure from some members in her constituency who were mobilised by some elements with special interest to make an apology. I do not know what she had apologised for, when she does not know what she did”, Achuol said in an interview with Sudan Tribune on Friday.

Malek’s relative said he suspected the apology was motivated by her wish to contain a worsening dispute with her husband and his family over the matter.

“As a brother, I cannot blame her. I know Hikma very well. She is my sister. The period she has been out of her work shows that she has the principle to live by what the majority want. She would have changed her mind long time ago if she had wanted. What happened now is something strange. I do not know how it happened but I think she wanted to break the family dispute and contain it. She has been at odds with her husband over this issue for long time. It grew to the extent that her husband stopped coming to the house. She told me the husband has not been visiting her for the last two months. The husband wants her to apologise even if there was nothing [to apologise for]. I heard her husband once telling her, ‘[an] apology does not kill’”, he said.

Kuac Wek Wol, another legislator who was expelled from the party along with Malek, corroborated reports, saying he was not surprised by the events given the current economic and political hardship in the country.

“Everybody had already known what happened and what they [the SPLM] are doing is the policy of divide and rule, which was why we fought against successive Khartoum regimes. Replicating it here in this country will not only betray the principles and the vision of the SPLM but will not be accepted”, Wol told Sudan Tribune on Saturday.

He says he will not apologise unless he is provided with an explanation that warrants his expulsion from the party and subsequent dismissal from the parliament, where he says he was exceptionally executing the policies of the ruling party and the legislative functions in the area.

Sudan Tribune was not able to independently verify the allegations despite repeated attempts to contact Malek. The SPLM’s branch office in the state has made no official comment on the allegations.

(ST)

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