South Sudan army officer says he is ‘relieved’ after fleeing Juba

JUBA – A high-ranking South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) officer has declared his intention to join the South Sudan United Front/Army (SSUF/A) led by former South Sudan army chief General Paul Malong Awan.

In a statement extended to Sudans Post, Lt. Col. Buay Kandong Liem said he was relieved to have safely fled the South Sudan’s capital Juba and declared that he is from today onward a part of the regime-change groups.

“Last week I left the country and together with it for good by God’s grace the pathetic, ethnocentric leadership of President Salva Kiir Mayardit. This all-time decision of mine has come about in response to the-ever-guilty conscience I have been living with since that forced returned of mine to the country through Gen. Taban’s peace with Kiir four years ago,” he said in the statement.

“It’s been a huge relieve that I am finally out of a nation abused by its ever own leader. As of today, 25^th, of January 2022, I am to be counted among the ranks and files of those with nothing less than Kiir’s imminent exit of our country’s face,” he added.

He claimed that “the people of South Sudan are tired of him seeing him every day with nothing beside that ugly cowboy hat of his which had never parted for a day for the last 17 years that has been in our country’s helm.”

“That our country gasped for an imminent change is not uttered for its own sake. The current state of affairs in our nation tells us otherwise: the stagnant peace, the dwindling economy, the humiliating conditions faced by our fellow citizens among others are more than enough to let those with hearts for this nation to join change seekers,” he added.

The now former South Sudan army officer further criticized Kiir for having been in power without an informed idea on how to government a new country like South Sudan that still lacks institutions.

“Whatever the criteria for Kiir’s selection, the man was never the right choice for a nation that was just beginning to establish itself. A nation like ours with no prior heritage to claim in identity, governance and ideology couldn’t be erected by a fellow of President Kiir’s caliber,” he added.