Machar denied permission to travel to New York for UN summit despite invitation – Oyet

JUBA, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – The deputy chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), Oyet Nathaniel, said on Monday that the party’s leader, Riek Machar, was invited to attend the 78^th Session of the General Assembly, but was denied permission to leave the country.

Nathaniel made the statement to journalists after the SPLM-IO boycotted the third and final reading of the National Elections Act 2012 (Amendment Bill 2023).

He said that Machar has been unable to move freely in the country and has also been denied traveling for treatment.

“Our chairman is not free to move. He has never left Juba since he came in 2020. He has never left Juba and has not visited any state, he has not even gone for treatment outside,” Nathaniel told journalists.

“There is no fairness. He wanted to go to Wau for a conference organized by the states, but he was denied permission to go and participate. He wanted to go to West Africa at the invitation of one of the governments, but he was denied,” he said.

Nathaniel revealed that Machar who is also the first vice president “was also invited to the current UN General Assembly” but “was also denied permission.”

“It is not because we have not been asking for it. We have been asking for it, only that we don’t talk about it in the media. But I think today is the time to talk about it, that he is not free,” he added.

“He is sick, and he treats himself here in Juba. So, this is the circumstance under which we operate and under this way, South Sudan is still a long way to see democracy unless we implement the peace agreement in letter and spirit,” he continued.

The government has not yet commented on Nathaniel’s statement.

Machar returned to Juba following the signing of the revitalized peace agreement in 2020. He has never visited his forces and his detention in Juba led to the split of the SPLM-IO in 2021 when his army chief Gatwech Dual attempted to remove for staying in Juba without seeing the army.