Machar allies to snub AU delegation over detention fears

JUBA – South Sudan’s main opposition SPLM-IO will boycott an African Union (AU) mediation meeting scheduled for Wednesday, citing fears of arrest and demanding the release of First Vice President Riek Machar, a party official said.

Machar, leader of the SPLM-IO, was placed under house arrest on March 26, allegedly on orders of President Salva Kiir. Information Minister Michael Makuei accused Machar of attempting to overthrow the government and directing attacks on the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF).

The AU’s “Panel of the Wise,” a conflict prevention body, is scheduled to arrive in Juba on Wednesday for meetings with parties to the 2018 peace agreement, including Kiir and Machar, according to a statement from AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf.

The statement, released on Monday, followed “cordial direct talks” between Youssouf and Kiir, focusing on the “evolving political situation and the recent violence in Nasir County.”

However, Dut Majokdit, a member of the SPLM-IO National Liberation Council, told Sudans Post in an interview late Tuesday that the party would not send representatives unless Machar is released.

“Indeed, we expect a high-level delegation from the African Union, the Panel of the Wise, they are five people in total, including the former president of Burundi, and then we have one person from Senegal, I think he’s the head of this delegation, and the other person from Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa,” Majokdit said.

“There are also regional leaders from the IGAD in the person of the Right Honorable Raila Odinga, who is already in Juba. And these delegations are coming to discuss the current situation in South Sudan, and they are going to meet the parties to the peace agreement, actually, it’s about the current security situation in Upper Nile and the other parts of the country,” he added.

Majokdit cited widespread fears of arbitrary arrests and detentions within the party.

“It is important per now to release His Excellency the First Vice-President Dr. Riek Machar to engage directly with this Panel of the Wise and the IGAD Special Envoy, because currently our representatives …… will not attend the meeting unless these people engage directly with the first vice-president, because due to fear, intimidation, and threats by the security parties in the country,” he said.

He urged the AU delegation to directly engage with Machar and facilitate dialogue between him and Kiir.

“We urge the African Union Panel of the Wise to meet directly and engage with the First Vice-President Riek Machar to present the SPLM-IO position paper and also to bring President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar together to dialogue so that this situation is averted, and the country returns back to peace and political settlement,” he said.

“The problem now, in particular, is because the first vice-president is being under house arrest, and he is the first signatory to the peace agreement, and I think it is difficult unless now the house arrest will be lifted and free the first vice-president to participate directly in that meeting,” he added.

Majokdit emphasized that Machar is the only person authorized to represent the SPLM-IO’s position.

“Nobody will represent the party unless the chairman is released from the house arrest. How do you engage on the peace process while the chairman, who is the chairman of the SPLM-IO and the principal to the peace agreement, is under house arrest? He is the only person that will present the position paper of the SPLM-IO to the Panel of the Wise and to the regional leaders of the IGAD,” he said.

He concluded that the SPLM-IO would not participate in any meetings without Machar’s release.

“It is very important for the chairman to be released …. Without the release of the chairman from detention, I don’t think there is an SPLM-IO member that will be participating in any meeting with the IGAD or with the Panel of the Wise,” he said.