Rebecca denies accusations of corruption against South Sudan Vice-President

Source: Sudan Tribune

August 15, 2008 (JUBA) — Urging the unity of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior has denied reports that she had accused the Vice-President of southern Sudan government of corruption.

Yesterday a western business news service, Bloomberg, reported that Madame de Mabior had accused Machar of introducing foreign companies because he wants "to get some percentages of commission from these companies."

However, in a statement received by email, she told Sudan Tribune "“We in Southern Sudan have freedom of speech; I am free to say anything I choose…But people in the same party don’t talk against each other in the newspapers, especially when I am the mother of these people.”

The GOSS Presidential Adviser on gender and human rights further added "I have access to [Vice President] Dr Riek Machar whenever I have anything to say to him."

Rebecca Nyandeng is the wife of the late Dr John Garang, architect of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and GOSS’s first President. The couple enjoyed a strong and close relationship and has a large family raised by Madame Garang at the time her husband commanded the SPLA during its protracted war with the Khartoum Government.

The former minister of transports in southern Sudan government was widowed as a result of the tragic helicopter crash which killed Dr Garang in 2005, just three weeks after his investiture as First Vice President of Sudan.

From her family home in Juba, Madame Rebecca spoke about the parliamentary debate during which she was reported to have made the accusation.

The debate, she said, had not been about corruption at all, but public safety- specifically the issue of the allocation of licences for petrol stations, and the positioning of those installations.

The issue is a current topic of conversation in Juba, where a proliferation of petrol stations has opened recently, some apparently close to houses and strategically important locations such as the airport.

(ST)