Juba dismisses ambassador’s role in alleged coup plot
January 4, 2015 (JUBA) – The South Sudanese presidency has dismissed as “untrue” and “unfounded” reports alleging ambassador Gordon Buay and the Ulang county commissioner, Gatkouth Bim Nyoak plan to overthrow the Juba regime.
“I think this is not true. Ambassador Gordon Buay is a staunch supporter of President Salva Kiir and he cannot work against him. Instead he is working for his success. He cannot work for the downfall of the president. What is reported is just a misleading propaganda to cause confusion”, the presidential spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny told Sudan Tribune on Sunday.
Ateny said Buay was in Canada on a family visit and would return for his duties at the foreign affairs and international cooperation ministry.
“Gordon Buay is currently visiting his family in Canada and he would return to resume his duties. All that has been said and attributed to him is a lie. There is no truth for anyone to accept”, he clarified.
An undisclosed source in Canada quoted Buay to have branded president Kiir a “lucky” leader, who was in power because of allies.
“If it weren’t because of luck, he [Kiir] wouldn’t have become the president. In addition, without me, Kiir would have lost his legitimacy a long time ago. But I happened to be his sharp critique and protect the constitution of the country, which is what has become the shell to him internationally,” Buay allegedly remarked.
“I have to do this because he can be fooled until he is finished so that he can go to ICC [International Criminal Court] for killing innocent civilians in Juba”..
The envoy, according to the source, also vowed to ally with the army’s chief of staff to take over the leadership should Bor, the capital of its largest state, fall to the rebels.
In the said interview, ambassador Buay and commissioner Nyoak allegedly admitted thousands of Nuer civilians were killed in December, 2013 in Juba by presidential guards and have they evidences showing more than 20,000 people have so died.
BUAY RESPONDS
But ambassador Buay said the allegations were a concoction by the rebels in an attempt to discourage diaspora communities and those at home from supporting government as some Nuer community members have started abandoning rebellion to join the Juba establishment.
“There is no truth in what has been reported. It is just a concoction. This is not the first time. They have been doing it to cause confusion. The website which reported these fabricated allegations has allegiance to the rebels. Those who run it are supporters of the rebels,” he told Sudan Tribune from Canada.
“What the rebels need to know is that I am the government and the state of South Sudan. If you see me, then, you see Salva Kiir Mayardit,” added Buay, who likened his relationship with president Kiir to that existing between Jesus Christ and Jehovah.
(ST)