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By Julius N. Uma
March 31, 2011 (JUBA) - A senior adviser to South Sudan President, Salva Kiir has disclosed what he claimed to be a plot to assassinate Riek Machar, the vice president of the semi-autonomous region, in addition to five other senior army officers after the country’s July independence declaration.
- Alfred Ladu Gore, South Sudan’s presidential adviser on diplomatic affairs addressing journalists in Juba, March 31, 2011 (Photo: Deng Deng Bol)
Speaking at a hastily convened press conference in the regional capital, Juba, Alfred Lado Gore, the president’s diplomatic affairs adviser said he was has been highly informed, through information in the public domain, that these prominent southern figures risk being assassinated by people whose identity he did not disclose.
“A report has already leaked to the public domain that some prominent and key figures in the southern government have been targeted for assassination before or after the independence declaration on July 9,” Gore told journalists.
South Sudan is due to become independent after a referendum in January agreed as part of a 2005 peace deal.
The other senior army officers allegedly being targeted for possible assassination, according to Gore, include Paulino Matip Nhial, Thomas Cirilo, Ismail Kony, Augustine Jadala and Isaac Obuto Mamur.
On Wednesday, Al-Rayaam, a Khartoum-based pro-government daily published what it referred to as an ultimatum memo from Matip, Gore and Kony, instructing Kiir to dissolve the southern government and change the political map of the south. The officers, further says the memo, requested Kiir to respond to the ultimatum issued within 24 hours.
The same newspaper, quoting sources from Sudan Media Center (SMC), further says these officers had embarked on several military actions in coordination with dissident forces loyal to renegade George Athor and Galuak Gai to destabilize the southern regime.
“The newspaper story is a mere cover up to the assassination scheme. The south does not need to assassinate its own people. Nobody ever presents a sitting president with ultimatum. As you can see, all these are mere fabrications aimed at tarnishing the image of the southern government,” a visibly disturbed Gore remarked.
According to Gore, the whole issue regarding the memo was a fabrication by some “low caliber of intelligence men” and that it may have been concocted from Juba and sent to Khartoum for wider circulation.
Phillip Aguer, the spokesman for the southern army, however, denied knowledge of such reports linking its senior officers to any assassination plot. He further said he was not aware of what appeared in the Khartoum-based daily.
“What is the name of the paper again? I don’t think I came across any information related to that. In any case, we have not heard anything of that kind among our senior army officers,” Aguer told Sudan Tribune by phone.
Tensions are growing in the South due to the outbreak of several deadly clashes in different parts of the region mostly between the SPLA and defected generals. The South accused the Northern based government of supplying the militias with arms to destabilize the region ahead of independence.
(ST)
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