By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU
South Sudan: The Deputy Head of Mission for the South Sudan embassy in Nairobi Mariano Deng Ngor has dismissed reports that the ongoing fighting in his country is tribal.
Ngor said the narrative of a Dinka-Nuer battle in Africa’s newest State was erroneous because some of the commanders and political leaders were from the Nuer community in the government of President Salva Kiir who is a dinka.
“The fighting is not tribe against tribe. It is a militia allied to the leader of the attempted coup versus the SPLA (South Sudan army)” said Ngor
Speaking to The Standard in his office, the ambassador dismissed the rebels led by former Vice President Riek Machar as people who had no legitimate claim on the Juba administration.
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His view is that Machar refused to obey the Constitution of South Sudan and went ahead to bear arms in a bid to topple the government.
“If this was happening, say, in Spain, Europe or America, (Machar) would have been called a terrorist,” said Ngor.
Ngor said President Kiir was ready to sign a ceasefire “anytime” because “he wants to put a stop to the destruction of life and property” that has hit three states in South Sudan since December 15, when a political disagreement degenerated into a mutiny, an attempted coup and downright violence.
The worst hit town in the country, the Deputy Head of Mission said, was witnessed in Bor, the capital of Jonglei State. He described the conflict in Bor as the “worst, fiercest and most destructive” in which “banks, universities and even hospitals were destroyed”.
The fighting was also witnessed in Bentiu in Unity State and in Malakal in Upper Nile State. He says the areas near Juba where the conflict began before it spread to Bor are relatively safe, save for the intermittent attacks on the road between Yei and Juba.
The International Organisation of Migration says 494,000 people have been displaced by the South Sudan conflict. An estimated 67,400 are seeking protection inside the United Nations compounds situated in different parts of the vast country, while 86,100 have sought refuge in neighbouring countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and Ethiopia.
