Africa-Press – South-Sudan. South Sudan’s exiled civil rights activist Wani Michael has said that the country’s prominent opposition leader and First Vice President Riek Machar is being kept by President Salva Kiir in captivity.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Michael questioned why Kiir has never delegated Machar to represent the country abroad. He said that Machar has only been seen welcoming and seeing off the president when returning or departing the country.
“President Kiir has delegated his other four Vice Presidents to represent him in regional and international meetings or summits except his First Vice President,” the exiled activist said.
“Since the establishment of RTGoNU, all the Vice Presidents have represented him in so many occasions. Others use the opportunity to seek medical checkups and even H.E Hussein and H.E Nyandeng got their one-time life opportunity or experience to address the UN General Assembly representing President Kiir.
“However, there’s that one responsibility that President Kiir will not delegate anyone to perform except his First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar. That’s to see him off or receive the President at the Juba International Airport since 2020,” he added.
Michael said that Machar’s constitutional rights as a first vice president are being attacked and that he is being kept in captivity by the president in Juba.
“I see Dr. Riek Machar always smiling whenever at the airport, but I don’t think it is a genuine smile. When’ll people line up at the Airport to welcome Dr. Riek Machar back to the Country from performing State duties?” he asked.
“It is not easy to be in Dr. Riek Machar shoe! His Constitutional rights and freedoms aren’t guaranteed. Some of you still think they’re serious with the Peace Agreement implementation when the whole First Vice President is kept in captivity,” he added.
Machar, the leader of the main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), signed the revitalized peace deal with Kiir in September 2018 and returned to Juba to form the unity government with him in February 2020.
He has not left Juba since then. Machar’s wife Angelina Teny, a senior member of the SPLM-IO and then minister of defense, told the BBC in March 2020 that her husband ‘is like a prisoner’ because he has not been allowed to move or even visit constituency.
The opposition leader is a potential candidate in the would-be 2024 elections, though his party – which has focused on rhetoric about implementation of the revitalized peace agreement – has not yet officially nominated him.
Kiir was nominated by the SPLM (IG) in December last year and earlier last month kicked off his campaign for what would be South Sudan’s first-ever elections with a huge rally in Western Bahr el Ghazal state’s capital Wau where he promised elections by December 2024.
For More News And Analysis About South-Sudan Follow Africa-Press
