Senior South Sudan diplomat joins Machar’s SPLM-IO

Rebecca Andrew Kong, a senior South Sudanese diplomat in the Ministry Of Foreign Affairs And International Cooperation said she had decided to join Machar’s SPLM-IO. Courtesy photo

A senior South Sudanese diplomat who resigned on Saturday, declared her intention on Monday, to join the armed opposition movement under the leadership of the country’s former vice president Riek Machar.

In a statement seen by this reporter, Rebecca Andrew Kong, a senior South Sudanese diplomat in the Ministry Of Foreign Affairs And International Cooperation said she had decided to join Machar’s SPLM-IO.

“Today, it’s a time for a long patience awaited for peace, to run out. Therefore, I hereby declare my resignation from my position as a diplomat at the ministry of foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of South Sudan with effect from today 2nd of June 2018, and by the same token, announce that I have decided to join the SPLM In the Opposition movement, under the leadership of Dr. Riek Machar Teny,” the diplomat wrote in a statement on Monday.

The senior diplomat said she is determined to work with Machar to bring a genuine and sustainable peace in the young African war-ravaged country.

“I am determined to work with him to bring genuine sustainable peace to the people of South Sudan,” she said.

The female South Sudan diplomat said the coup narrative by the government of South Sudan was proven baseless although the government is still living to it despite an African union report that there was no coup in the country’s capital in mid-December, 2013.

“It should be recalled that on the 15th of December 2013, during the SPLM liberation council deliberations, forces loyal to President Salva Kiir clashed with Nuer soldiers within presidential guards unit whom they believed to be Dr. Riek Machar’s supporters, (Kiir’s former vice-president).Rather than face a challenge from Dr. Riek Machar in the 2015 presidential election, President Kiir accused Dr. Machar of having attempted a military coup, a charge which was later proven to be baseless,” the diplomat said.

The diplomat said the suffering by millions of South Sudan citizens today culminated from President Kiir’s ‘authoritarian and tyrannical’ regime which she said distorted governance system and ushered in poor governance, corruption and insecurity.

“All the suffering endured by millions of innocent people is as a result of President Salva Kiir’s authoritarian and tyrannical leadership. He has completely distorted the government system, and installed one which excels in poor governance, corruption, insecurity, the absence of democracy and the rule of law, under-development, among other ills,” she said.

The diplomat cited numerous international human rights and United Nations reports to prove her claim that the country has failed and the government kills its own citizens with impunity.