Aldo Ajou Deng Akuey, a prominent member of the Jieng (Dinka) Council of Elders, denied on Saturday reports that his group masterminded the arrest and ‘torture’ of Dhieu Mathok Diing Wol, a cabinet minister in the government of national unity from the Sudan People’s Liberation in Opposition (SPLM-IO), under the leadership of the first vice president, Riek Machar.
Dhieu was briefly arrested and released on Friday. Photographs of him after his release show that he had bleeding on his knees.
Ajou said he learned of the incident after it occurred, attributing it to lack of understanding and failure on the part of minister Dhieu himself to cooperate with security forces in handing over arms and weapons in possession of his guards at his residence.
“The council does not believe in violence. The principle objectives of the council are unity of the people of South Sudan and therefore advocates for peaceful dialogue as a means to addressing political differences. So what was reported in the media trying to connect the council with the incident is incorrect. The council was not in any way linked to the incident,” he said.
He also denied any knowledge of a reported initiative by his group to persuade the defection of Dhieu and Mabior Garang de Mabior, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation. If there were such initiatives, he said, it could be at the community level of the individual minister.
Dhieu Mathok himself in a Facebook post denied an earlier Radio Tamazuj report that he had been approached by the Dinka Council of Elders to defect.
Aldo commented, “These are politicians and in politics, there are ways through which issues connected to politics are handled.”
He said that Dhieu failed with demands to disarm his guards and to say whether he knew the whereabouts of the first vice president, who has fled Juba after his bodyguards were attacked.
Photo: The energy minister suffered injuries to his knees during an incident with security personnel on Thursday