Detained and suspended First Vice President, Dr Riek Machar. [Photo: Courtesy]

JUBA — The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) faction under the leadership of suspended First Vice President Riek Machar on Wednesday disowned the registration of the ‘IO Party’ by the Political Parties Council, further deepening internal divisions within the political group.

A breakaway faction of the SPLM-IO led by Peacebuilding Minister Stephen Par Kuol, which moved to depose Dr Riek Machar Teny as chairperson on April 9, 2025, was registered as the IO Party on Tuesday after dropping the SPLM-IO name.

The registration was announced in Juba by the Political Parties Council (PPC), the body mandated to register, monitor, and regulate political parties.

Eng. Joseph Malwal Dong, Focal Person of the SPLM-IO Political Bureau, said the movement does not recognise the registration of SPLM-IO as an “IO” party.

“The Political Bureau would like to inform its members and the public at large that SPLM/SPLA-IO has not registered as a party for the following reasons. The SPLM/SPLA-IO is still a military-political organization,” Dong said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

Dong said the SPLM-IO cannot be registered. At the same time, the unification of forces, as stipulated in the 2018 peace deal, remains incomplete, with Dr Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon still serving as the chairman and commander-in-chief of the SPLM/A-IO.

“Once unification has been completed in accordance with article 2.2.1 of the R-ARCSS, SPLM/A-IO shall hold its National Convention in accordance with the party constitution and officially register as a party thereafter,” he said.

Dong, who is also Chairperson of the SPLM-IO National Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Relations, said the registration of the IO party under Stephen Par Kuol, as announced by the Political Parties Council (PPC) on June 30, 2026, has nothing to do with the SPLM/A-IO.

“Stephen Par can register his party because he has no standing army and he is not a commander-in-chief of any force. This is long overdue as far as the SPLM/A-IO Political Bureau is concerned,” he said.

He said that with this decision, Stephen Par and his colleagues have effectively and explicitly announced their defection from the SPLM-IO.

“By registering his own party, Stephen Par has finally pulled himself out of the R-ARCSS by aligning himself with one of the party signatories to the R-ARCSS,” he said.