Oil worker goes on the run after accusing government of role in sacking

September 12, 2014 (JUBA) – A sacked oil worker says he has gone on run for his own safety after alleging the South Sudanese government had ordered the dismissal of 14 Nuer employees from China’s Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC) amid fears they had joined the country’s rebellion.

The group has dismissed claims they had links to rebels aligned to former vice-president Riek Machar, who also hails from the Nuer tribe, saying they were targeted by the government based on their ethnicity.

Engineer Lony Keah Tut Ngoal spoke out about the workers’ sacking this week, telling Sudan Tribune they had also been denied their salary payments since returning from a break.

Ngoal, who is now in hiding at an undisclosed location, says he had received warnings that security agents were searching for him after he publicly revealed the sacking of his colleagues.

“If I could tell where am then maybe I can be collected from where am. I know the government is not happy because I have exposed the injustices [of] what is happening within Juba,” he said.

He says most staff had gone on holidays prior to the mid-December outbreak of violence in the country and were delayed in reporting to duty at the company’s base in Juba after being unable to travel due to ongoing insecurity affecting the Greater Upper Nile regions.

Ngoal has blamed South Sudanese government of interfering in the affairs of private institutions.

“The instruction (to sack the workers) was from the government in which I disputed that [the] government should not have a hand in the management [of] private institutions and is like everyone [else] aware of the current situation in the country, so it should not be blamed on the individual because she or he has reported late to the work,” said Ngoal.

Ngoal says it’s mandated in transitional government of republic of South Sudan for every citizen, to express his or her views, whenever there is humiliation on working base. He accused the government over violation of law by targeting certain individual.

“The current government does not want the freedom of expression in which I’m entitled to according to the law, so I’m being humiliated,” he said.

“I don’t see the reason why I should be the target because I have expressed my own right,” he added.

In an earlier interview with Sudan Tribune this week, Ngoal claimed he received information from a source in the national security agency that during a closed-door meeting president Salva Kiir had instructed security personnel to screen and closely monitor members of the Nuer tribe working in the public services and government institutions.

The group has also accused the undersecretary of the ministry of petroleum and mining, Machar Ader, of fuelling ethnic tensions by dismissing members of one tribe and allowing members of another tribe to continue working despite both being late in reporting to work.

The South Sudanese government has denied having any involvement or prior knowledge of GPOC’s decision to sack the workers, describing the claims earlier this week as “mere white lies” and “unhealthy political propaganda”.

Presidential spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny said on Wednesday the workers’ dismissal was related to their long absence from their place of employment and had nothing to do with ethnicity.

“The allegations that the workers were dismissed on the basis of their ethnicity are unfounded. It was just fabricated for political reasons. Why would the president do that? There are several members of [the] Nuer ethnic group in the government, including the head of security for external bureau, General Thomas Duoth. There are several ministers and senior civil servants and they have not been removed if the issue of ethnicity was the reason,” Ateny said.

Ader has also denied having any prior knowledge of the company’s decision, describing the sackings as an “administrative issue”.

Conflict flared in South Sudan in mid-December last year after a political dispute within the ruling SPLM party turned violent, triggering tribal tensions across the country.

The fighting has pitted government forces loyal to Kiir, a Dinka, against pro-Machar rebels.

(ST)

– S. Sudan denies involvement in dismissal of oil workers
– Juba sacks 14 Nuer oil workers over alleged rebel links