Kiir accused of reducing his first deputy Machar to ‘a flower boy’  

JUBA,  JULY 13, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – An exiled South Sudanese activist has said that First Vice President Riek Machar is not free in Juba and that President Salva Kiir Mayardit has succeeded in reducing the former to “a flower boy”.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Wani Michael said FVP Machar who doubles as the leader of the main armed opposition SPLM-IO has been reduced to the role of seeing Kiir off and receiving him at Juba International Airport whenever he returns to the country.

“Since 2020, they’ve succeeded in reducing the FVP Dr. Riek Machar to act like a ‘flower boy’ for President Kiir,” he wrote.

“His only role is to see the President off and receive him at Juba International Airport whenever he returns back to the Country. In fact, that’s the only far distance Dr. Riek Machar has so far reached. Dr. Riek is not a FREEMAN!” he added.

A number of South Sudanese, mainly supporters of SPLM-IO, accuse Kiir of reneging on the peace agreement that brought him and Machar together in 2018.

Machar returned to Juba to form the revitalized unity government with Kiir in February 2020, but he has not been allowed to visit his constituency or leave the capital since then.

His wife – Angelina Teny – said in early 2021 that Machar is a prisoner and that he is not allowed to visit his forces for dissemination of peace.

Mrs. Teny is the head of the SPLM-IO National Committee for Security & Defense and served as the country’s first female defense minister from March 2020 until his controversial sacking by Kiir in March this year.

Machar’s supporters have dismissed claims by some government officials allied to Kiir that he is free and have called for his release.

They say that Machar is being held as a political prisoner to limit his political activities, necessary in gathering more support ahead of the anticipated 2024 elections which they see as a violation of revitalized peace agreement.

The agreement was supposed to end the civil war in South Sudan, but insecurity has remained, and the agreement has been plagued by delays and setbacks.

In recent months, there have been renewed tensions between Kiir and Machar’s factions, the most recent of which is the unilateral sacking of the defense minister by Kiir which the opposition have decried as violation of the revitalized peace deal.

Some analysts fear that the country could be headed for yet another civil war, but Kiir has vowed on many occasions that he will never return the country back to war.