"Kiir has betrayed the hard-earned independence of South Sudan," Thomas Cirillo

In his speech marking the 9th independence anniversary of South Sudan, NAS Chairman Thomas Cirillo urged the people to be "steadfast
and maintain the resilience needed to transform South Sudan into the
country our people struggled for, and aspire to achieve."

He went on to point out that South Sudan - that achieved independence through a popular vote a referendum in 2011 - has been reduced to a global sad story with civil war and multiple government-sponsored inter- and intra-ethnic communal violence raging all over the country.