Dhieu Mathok denies private engagement with UNISFA over mile-14

JUBA – South Sudan’s minister of investment Dhieu Mathok Ding Wol has denied reports on social media that he was engaging privately with the United Nations Interim Security Forces for Abyei in order for it to remain in the area despite calls from the local communities for it to exit the area.

Last week, protests broke out in the Northern Bahr el Ghazal area demanding the departure of the UNISFA because mile-14 was not a disputed territory and that Abyei was the only place where the joint peace-keeping force is supposed to provide protection to civilians in need.

Social media users from Northern Bahr el Ghazal state have over the week been alleging that Dhieu Mathok is behind the existence of UNISFA and that the senior government official has been engaging in private talks with the mission in order to remain in the area against the people of Northern Bahr el Ghazal’s will.

In a statement however, Dhieu denied the speculations.

“South Sudanese in general and Aweil communities in particular were well aware that I was in the front-line with the rest of compatriots, who came out in defense of 14 miles in 2012,” he said in a statement.

“I made my position clear before the African Union team of experts by presenting the circumstances behind the creation of 14 miles and why we think it was not a boundary,” the statement obtained by Sudan Tribune added.