S. Sudan foreign ministry downplays remarks against former UNMISS head

November 25, 2014 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s ministry of foreign affairs has distanced itself from statements on Tuesday alleging that the former head of the country’s UN mission (UNMISS), Hilde Johnson, had played a role in helping former vice-president Riek Machar leave the country.

“It is not everything which is said or heard is what should be reported. You also need to understand that the president is a human like of any one of us to slide from the focus,” he said.

The diplomat, a well-known close political ally of Kiir’s, conceded the sentiments expressed were “inconsistent” with the foreign policy of the government and the responsibility required of the president.

Addressing senior members of the government and party officials at a consultative meeting on the peace proposal by Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which is mediating peace talks aimed at ending the more than 11-month-long crisis, president Kiir said he believed Johnson, had helped Machar to flee after political differences in the ruling party (SPLM) erupted in violence late last year.

“The former UN boss in South Sudan was the best of friend Riek and was the one who assisted Riek Machar to escape from Juba after the incident of 15 December,” said president Kiir.

This was the first time the president has openly accused the former UNMISS head of playing a role in the rift, although the government was involved in organising anti-UN demonstrations calling for Johnson’s expulsion.

Those protests came after South Sudanese security officials in Lakes state discovered a shipment of weapons in an overland UNMISS convoy.

The discovery tarnished UNMISS’s credibility in the country, with protesters accusing the agency of secretly attempting to arm pro-Machar opposition forces.

The mission is prohibited from carrying weapons by land, but has always maintained the weapons were intended for Ghanaian peace keepers in Unity state and were mistakenly transported due to a labelling error.

The relationship between Juba and UNMISS deteriorated in the months after the conflict erupted, with Kiir accused accusing the body of attempting to run a parallel government in the country.

Johnson submitted her resignation in July and has since been replaced by Denmark’s Ellen Margrethe Løj.

(ST)