Opposition group questions Kenyan participation in S. Sudan force

February 27, 2017 (JUBA) – A South Sudanese opposition group, the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) Friday questioned the aptitude of Kenyan peacekeepers to reintegrate the UN peacekeeping mission pointing to abduction and disappearance of refugees from the neighbouring country.

Last year, the Kenyan authorities handed over the spokesperson of SPLM-IO leader, James Gadet Dak because he had praised UN chief for sacking a Kenyan general from his position as the UNMISS force commander. Also, SPLM-IO members Dong Samuel Luak and Aggrey Ezbon Idri both went missing in Nairobi, on the 23rd and 24th of January 2017 respectively.

Kenya had withdrawn its troops from the UN peacekeeping mission in the country to protest the relief of General Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki from his position. However, earlier this month and upon the request of the new UN secretary general, the President Uhuru Kenyatta accepted to rejoin the blue helmets in South Sudan.

The people of South Sudan are “deeply frustrated” and “doubt the ability of Kenya to act responsibly as part of the UN protection force or as a member of the IGAD peace process given the compromised position it has openly adopted,” said the PDM chairman Hakim Dario in a statement released on Friday.

Dario further urged the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate “kidnappings of South Sudanese in Kenya and document the violations and abuses of human rights and atrocities committed by the government of South Sudan and its external networks”.

During the different cases of disappearance of South Sudanese in Kenya, the opposition groups accused local authorities of corruption and complicity with South Sudanese security apparatus.

The PDM called on the neighbouring countries to desist and to prevent the kidnapping and deportation of South Sudanese refugees living in their countries.

(ST)