South Sudan activist condemns government spokesman’s anti-American comments

JUBA, AUGUST 22, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – South Sudanese activist Edmund Yakani has condemned remarks by government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth, who claimed that the United States is against the government of South Sudan.

Makuei made the comments last Tuesday after the US Department of State warned American businesses against dealing with entities linked to corrupt South Sudan officials or their families.

“After all, there are no American investors here. There are no US investors here because US had ever been clear against the government of South Sudan,” Makuei said.

“I can say they are against the people of South Sudan,” he added.

The senior government official who is also the information minister and senior member of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) also accused the US of trying to sabotage South Sudan’s upcoming investors’ conference.

Yakani, who is the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), said that Makuei’s remarks were unacceptable and that they should be stopped immediately.

“CEPO is urging leaders of use to abstain from the use of worse language against friends of South Sudan,” he said in a statement. “If our leaders have problem with the leaders from our friends member states, the government should handle their difference with hostile propaganda or generational.”

Yakani stressed that the government should take responsibility for implementation of the revitalized peace agreement which he said is aimed at transitioning the country from violence to peace, and that it should not blame its friends for its shortcomings.

“The trend of spread negative attitudes towards our friends as a strategy of escaping responsibility for transitioning the situation of country from violence from peace,” he said.

“Our current leaders should take the primary responsibility of sorting out the country political crisis without blaming any of our friends for their failure in transitioning our situation from Bol to peace,” he stressed.

The US has been a major donor to South Sudan since its independence in 2011.

However, the relationship between the two countries has been strained in recent years due to the country’s ongoing civil war and widespread corruption.