Top opposition officials including Machar allies face hotel evictions as NTC defaults on bills

JUBA – South Sudan opposition officials from SPLM-IO and SSOA are facing expulsion from several hotels in the country’s capital Juba, with a close Machar ally – one of those facing evictions – calling on the National Transitional Committee (NTC) to clear off the bills to thwart their possible eviction which he describes as a “continuous inconvenience.”

Hundreds of opposition politicians and military officers who came to Juba as part of the revitalized peace agreement are currently living in luxurious hotels and owners have persistently complained that the NTC led by presidential security advisor Tut Gatluak has kept snubbing bills.

In a statement, SPLA-IO spokesman Col. Lam Paul Gabriel said he and some of his colleagues from other opposition groups who had came to Juba for peace missions are currently facing evictions and appealed to the NTC to clear the bills, but dismissed a claim that it is the SPLA-IO leadership hampering their stay in hotels.

“Much as it is true that my colleagues and I are facing eviction from our residence, it is not the responsibility of the SPLA-IO political leadership but the NTC since we are Members of the Security Mechanisms that came to implement the Security Arrangement,” Lam said.

“It should also be noted that all opposition officers from both SPLA-IO and SSOA who are members of the different Security Mechanisms are facing eviction due to none payment of their rent which was supposed to be handled by the NTC,” he said.

“Therefore, singling out individual SPLA-IO officers from Equatoria including myself as if we are the only ones facing this same challenge and blaming it on SPLA-IO political leadership is completely political and tribal.

“The SPLA-IO would like to call upon the NTC to honor its Mandate by clearing the rent arrears of these officers and then find a permanent solution to this issue to avoid these continuous inconveniences.”