Juba accuses defected diplomat of trying to dodge fraud claims

November 22, 2014 (JUBA) – The South Sudanese government has confirmed the defection of one of its diplomats in neighbouring Ethiopia, citing allegations of financial fraud as the reason behind the decision.

It also said that David Dang Kong was a first secretary at the embassy and not the deputy head of mission to Ethiopia as was previously reported.

Kong, an ethnic Nuer, announced on Friday he was joining the SPLM/A in Opposition faction led by former vice-president Riek Machar.

The move comes one month after South Sudan’s foreign affairs ministry ordered the diplomat to return to the capital, Juba, within 72 hours.

In an interview with Sudan Tribune, Kong accused the Juba government of creating a climate of fear at South Sudanese embassies in a bid to force Nuer diplomats to abandon their posts.

“The securities of [president] Salva Kiir who are from [the] Bhar Ghazal region are targeting Nuer diplomats and citizens at South Sudan embassies across the world,” he said.
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“This has happened at our embassies in New York, China, Kenya, South Africa, Eritrea – and now in Ethiopia,” he added.

However, the spokesperson for the ministry of foreign affairs, Mawien Makol, told Sudan Tribune on Saturday that Kong had defected in order to dodge fraud claims.

“All the reasons he (Kong) cited as the cause for defection are false. Nobody is doing that. What I know about this defection is that he wanted to run away from accountability of the money he misappropriated at the embassy and when he was called to come for [an] explanation, he refused,” Makol said during an exclusive interview.

Kong’s defection comes after South Sudan’s former ambassador to Geneva, Lumumba Stanislaus, and former MP Henry Dillah Odwar, announced their defection to the opposition group following a meeting with Machar on Thursday.

But Makol has denied that Lumumba had ever served in an official capacity in Geneva.

“The ministry of foreign affairs has record showing that he was an ambassador. What I know about him is that he was an ambassador in Sudan and was deployed to Geneva, Switzerland, but when we seceded from Sudan he was never appointed and therefore he was not an employ of the ministry of foreign affairs,” he said.

The South Sudanese government and pro-Machar rebels have been engaged in an armed struggle since mid-December last year following a political split in the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

The conflict has reignited tribal tensions across the country, particularly between Kiir’s Dinka tribe and the Nuer, to which Machar hails.

Tens of thousands have died and over 1.5 million displaced since conflict broke out between the rival SPLM factions.

(ST)