March 22, 2018(Nyamilepedia) —– South Sudan’s former Ambassador to Russia, Amb. Telar Ring Deng, calls on South Sudan’s outspoken Minister of Petroleum, Hon. Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, to apologize and retract his wild allegations against him with immediate effect.
“For a person of your status, you ought to know and act better than embarking on a wild goose chase. Taking advantage of a death to spin political folktales is at best appalling. The very least you can do is to apologise and retract your wild allegations at the earliest.” Ambassador Telar Ring Deng calls on Hon. Lol Gatkuoth to apologize,
The disgruntled ambassador was speaking in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum where he is currently visiting his family following the death of his father-in-law, Gen. Andrew Makur Thou.
In Khartoum, ambassador Telar met high ranking Sudanese politicians and army generals including the 1st Vice President and Prime Minister of Sudan, H.E. Bakri Hassan Saleh and the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff General, Engineer, Emad Edeen Mustafa Adawi and his deputy.
Telar also met South Sudan’s disgruntled politicians and army generals including the ousted SPLA Chief of General Staff, Gen. Paul Malong Awan, who sneaked to Khartoum from Nairobi, and the former Secretary General of the SPLM, Cde. Pagan Amum and his group.
These series of meetings in Khartoum left the Juba based Salva Kiir’s government boiling in fear that Amb. Telar and Gen. Malong, who have been numerously accused of trying to stage a new rebellion, could foment a new rebellion in Bhar el Ghazal region.
Telar believes that Hon. Lol Gatkuoth, a former rebel official who switched sides in 2016, made false accusations against him and went as far as reporting the accusations to the regional bloc, IGAD.
“It is equally quite unfortunate that in your acts of desperation, you chose to circulate your wild allegations to all who cared to listen including IGAD. You are neither the Minister of Foreign Affairs, an Ambassador nor are you the government’s spokesperson. So the question begs, in what capacity were you addressing IGAD?” Ambassador Telar Ring Deng belittles Hon. Lol and his role in Salva Kiir’s government.
The former Ambassador to Russia, who has been sacked and recalled to Juba, refutes part of the accusation that he traveled to Khartoum to prepare ways for Gen. Malong Awan, who was exiled and closely monitored in the neighboring Kenya.
” I am not Gen. Malong’s envoy akin to John the Baptist in the Bible who has to go ahead of him and prepare/facilitate his arrival in Khartoum. Gen. Malong, just like yourself and any other citizen has a right to associate with whomever he so wishes and for a person of his stature I doubt he would need any facilitation in order to meet with whomever he so chooses.” Amb. Telar reiterates.
South Sudan’s incumbent president, Salva Kiir, who is believed to be unfit and incompetent, felt out with most of his right hand men and women in SPLM and SPLA starting with his first deputy chairman and the country’s first vice president, Dr. Riek Machar, to his notorious army chief of staff, Gen. Paul Malong Awan and some of his deputies, to powerful ambassadors like Telar Ring Deng(Russia) and his counterpart in Washington, U.S.A.
The ambassadors to Russia and the United States, Amb. Garang Diing, have been recalled to report to Juba within 72 hours as they are suspected to be loyalists of Gen. Malong, however, both have refused to return to South Sudan.
Read: Amb. Teler’s full letter here
