South Sudan's Machar plans to become party's next presidential candidate

   
South Sudan's former Vice President Riek Machar said on Friday he planned to challenge President Salva Kiir as chairman of the ruling SPLM party to contest the 2015 elections.
   
"I have told my colleagues in the politburo that come the next elections in 2015, I would contest those elections," Machar told reporters.
   
His spokesman James Gatdet Dak told Reuters Machar meant he would run for the SPLM chairmanship ahead of the vote to become the next presidential candidate.

This comes as South Sudan's former Vice President Riek Machar said he accepted his sacking but criticized President Salva Kiir for creating a political vacuum in the African oil producer by firing his entire cabinet.           

On Tuesday, Kiir dismissed Machar and his cabinet and put under investigation his top Sudan negotiator Pagan Amum, in the biggest political shakeup since the country's independence in 2011.                

"I thought the dissolution should have taken place and then a replacement or formation of the new government be done immediately, so that there is no vacuum in the state," Machar said in his first comments since losing his job.         

"We now have a vacuum and this has created apprehension." 


REUTERS