South Sudan in diplomatic spat with 4 Western countries

JUBA, July 17 (Xinhua) -- A diplomatic row has erupted between South Sudan and four Western countries after foreign envoys recently criticized the state of affairs in the east African nation.

A senior official at South Sudan's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday accused the United States, Britain, Norway and France of blatant interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state after the Western powers recently condemned the extension of President Salva Kiir's term and what they described as continued human rights violations.

"Foreign governments or representatives of foreign governments have no right to criticize the parliament and even to advice our president to reject the decision of our parliament," Baak Valentino Wol, undersecretary at South Sudan's Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Juba.

South Sudanese lawmakers last week voted to extend their term, the president's tenure, and those of his two deputies and state governors until July 2021.

The United States, Britain and Norway last Friday criticized the South Sudanese parliament for unilaterally extending president Kiir's mandate for three years.

In a joint statement issued on July 13, the trio said the extension of Kiir's term is not a solution to the civil war and it undermines ongoing peace talks with the opposition, asking the South Sudanese leader to reject the extension.

"Our parliament is sovereign. Our parliament has the right to amend our constitution. Our parliament have the right to debate whatever they want to debate as representative of the people of South Sudan," Wol said.

"If there are people who are criticizing that, these are people I feel are not for peace and they are not for stability of our country," he added.

South Sudan also accused the French ambassador to Juba, Jean-Yves Roux, of undiplomatic practices over his recent criticism of what he described as widespread human rights abuses in the war-torn country.

Wol said the ministry has summoned the French ambassador in South Sudan to lodge a formal complaint over his statement in which he condemned the reported incident in Unity State.

"We shared with him a protest note that was prepared by the ministry of foreign affairs based on a statement that he has made publicly on Saturday during the celebration of the French National Day," he said.

The French envoy had condemned what was described as continued violations of human rights in the world's youngest nation, citing a recent United Nations report that accused South Sudan government forces and allied groups of committing human rights abuses against innocent civilians.

"It was undiplomatic and it was using a forum of celebration for other purposes," Wol told journalists after handing a protest letter to the French envoy.

"We have told him in the strongest terms that this is not acceptable. We are advising his government to advise him to desist from such undiplomatic practices," Wol added.