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Sudan Tribune

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Former rebel spokesperson arrives in Juba after defection

February 19, 2015 (JUBA) – The former Spokesman of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by former vice-president Riek Machar has arrived in Juba following his defection on Wednesday.

South Sudanese soldiers sit on a truck at the airport in Juba on 12 June 2014 (Photo: AFP/Samir Bol)
South Sudanese soldiers sit on a truck at the airport in Juba on 12 June 2014 (Photo: AFP/Samir Bol)
Lul Ruai Koang told reporters at Juba international airport that he decided to breakaway and return to the country because the rebel leader was making impossible demands in the ongoing IGAD led negotiations while people continue to suffer and die.

“Riek does not value the lives of our people. He looks only after his own interest and this is why he is making impossible demands because he is only after power,” Koang told reporters before he whisked away in a government-provided vehicle.

Koang said he and his new group will negotiate with the government for the establishment of a separate state of Akobo for the Lou Nuer in the large region of Jonglei.

The new administrative entity would br similar to that of Greater Pibor Administrative Area which is created following the signing of a peace agreement with the former rebel David Yau Yau.

Meanwhile, Gordon Buay, a former spokesperson of the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA), who responded to the presidential amnesty in 2012 and laid down their arms, described the defection of Koang as “a big setback and painful punch in the eyes of rebel leadership”.

I AM NOT DEFECTING

Brig General Lul Ruai Koang who returned to Juba alone on Thursday previously claimed that he was defecting with a number of senior rebel commanders, politicians and White Army soldiers.

Media reports purported another Brig General Makuach Teny Youk, one of rebel military commanders to have been suspected of defecting to the government with Lul.

However, Brig Teny dismissed the rumours, saying he was not defecting to the government.

“Rumours published in the media about me, that I was going to defect with Brig Lul are false. I would not defect to the government of Salva Kiir. And if I was planning to defect with him, it wouldn’t have been Lul leading me since I am his senior,” Brig General Teny told Sudan Tribune on Thursday from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

He said he was waiting for a ticket to fly to Addis Ababa from Nairobi in order to join the peace process.

(ST)

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