{UAH} Garang widow wants dialogue | The Star
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Garang widow wants dialogue | The Star
THE widow of the late SPLM leader John Garang, Rebecca Nyandeng Garang, has appealed to President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene in the South Sudan conflict.
The message was read on her behalf in Nairobi yesterday by Choul Laam, chief of Staff to the SPLM secretary general Pagan Amum, at a press conference at 680 Hotel.
They requested Uhuru and other regional leaders to "take a critical steps towards dialogue" and warned that unless this is done tribalism will escalate in South Sudan.
"Kenya should take the lead because the Comprehensive Peace Process (CPA) was born here," Laam said on behalf of Rebecca.
Meanwhile two Kenyans were reportedly killed yesterday at the town of Bor as violence spread through South Sudan.
The roots of the crisis date back to July when President Salva Kiir sacked his vice-president Riek Machar and all his cabinet.
"Kenya knows what is happening in South Sudan and it should convince both sides to start dialogue," said Laam.
Kenyans arriving by road at Malaba yesterday said South Sudan can degenerate into civil war.
Boniface Walukana, businessman from Eastern Equatorial where his wife works as a nurse, said he escaped through Lokichoggio.
"My family escaped through Juba to Kampala. I am heading there to pick them and return to our Trans Nzoia home until the situation normalizes.
"The situation in South Sudan is very pathetic. It might turn out to be the 1994 genocide in Rwanda where the Tutsi and Hutus turned against the other," he said.
Walukana said the situation is critical in Juba, Bor and Unity State.
"There are over 100,000 Southern Kenyans working in South Sudan. I have been working in South Sudan as a teacher between 2005 and 2009 before I ventured into business," he said, adding that he had never registered with the Kenyan embassy. Official records indicate that there are around 20,000 Kenyans in South Sudan.
Over 10 buses carrying Kenyans from Juba were expected at Malaba border last night.
Kenya's Foreign Secretary Amina Mohammed flew to South Sudan yesterday to offer assistance to Kenyans caught up in the violence.
"I am en route to South Sudan to offer first hand assistance to Our Diaspora and also South Sudan government. This is a regional matter touching on EAC," she tweeted yesterday. Last month President Kenyatta became the EAC chairman.
During the press conference, Laam, who arrived in Nairobi yesterday from Juba, warned that the situation could degenerate into ethnic cleansing if it is not contained.
Laam discounted claims that there had been an attempted coup on Sunday night.
"The information I have is that a General ordered Dinka members of the presidential guard to disarm the minority Nuer soldiers," he said.
He said it was unclear whether President Kiir had sanctioned the disarmament.
Laam said the disagreements in the presidential guard degenerated into the present hostilities outside of the barracks.
Laam said former vice president Riek Machar was still in Juba and denied that he had ordered Nuer soldiers to instigate the violence.
He said Kiir has become a victim of misinformation by the people around him because those arrested in Juba were only calling for increased democracy within the ruling SPLM.
"They have asked President Kiir to abide by the SPLM constitution and by-laws and to hold the required meetings so that SPLM leadership can discuss the challenges of the nation and work together to find the way forward," he said.
Laam called on Kiir to immediately release the detained politicians and call for a dialogue with all SPLM members including Machar within the next 24 hours.
The UN has confirmed that the death toll is now between 400 and 500.
French UN ambassador Gerard Araud, president of the Security Council, said up to 20,000 people had taken refuge in the UN mission in Juba.
Araud warned that there is "the potential of a civil war" between the Dinka and the Nuer.
http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-148030/garang-widow-wants-dialogue
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