The Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of the rebel outfit South Sudan People’s Movement/Army (SSPM/A) has asked the mediators of the High-level Mediation for South Sudan in Nairobi, Kenya, to return his team from where they came because of an assassination attempt on him.
Gen. Stephen Buoy Rolnyang wrote Gen. Lazaros Sumbeiywo, the Chief Mediator, a letter dated 20 May titled “Security Concerns” which said he received urgent intelligence on 15 May from Juba that Tut Keaw Gatluak, President Salva Kiir’s security advisor, sent a team of security agents to Nairobi to hunt and assassinate him in Nairobi.
“On 16/5/2024, the Juba security agents employed Kenyan agents wearing dark glass eyes and came to the Ole Sereni hotel where they kept hiding near the hotel toilets in the evening carrying some pictures in their hands definitely which might be my picture. I noticed them and I returned to my room and immediately alerted the security. I reported it to you the following morning in the meeting hall which Hon. Makuei Lueth refuted in front of everybody,” he wrote. “Yesterday on 19/5/2024, John Top Nyerew, the one whom Tut Gatluak sent came in person looking for me in the hotel and found me sitting with my two officers eating supper, he came and greeted me and sat near me because we have known each other.”
Gen. Buoy added: “He started talking by himself without even being asked to do so and explained he was sent by Tut in 2022 to look for me in Addis Ababa to assassinate me, but ‘I told Tut that Gen Stephen Buay married our daughter, I should not be the one to assassinate him’ and he continued narrating a lot of stories all about how Tut is using plenty of money to assassinate me, then I asked him where he came from now.”
According to Gen. Buoy, the would-be assassin, Top, said he had just arrived from America, which he said was a lie.
“Then, I texted security to take and investigate him, but he immediately ran to Gen. Gregory [Gregory Vasili Deng Kuac, Deputy Director-General of the General Intelligence Bureau of the National Security Service (NSS)] a member of the Juba Delegation, who tried to protect him from being taken by Kenyan security,” he recounted.
Gen. Buoy said Gen. Gregory had a misunderstanding with the Kenyan security personnel until the latter reported the case to their higher authorities.
“John Top Nyerew is the one who has been accused of kidnapping Dong Samuel and Aggrey Idris from Nairobi here and got killed in Juba. Considering the above security concerns, Juba is not ready for any peace talks. Their objective is to lure the opposition to Kenya and assassinate them one by one as I told you last time in my letter in response to your invitation letter,” Gen. Buoy wrote. “I, therefore, request your esteemed office that the SSPM/A/SSUNA team withdraw from the talks, and needs immediate evacuation from Nairobi back to where we came from.”
When contacted this (Monday) morning by Radio Tamazuj and asked if he would withdraw from the talks, Gen. Buoy said Juba is not ready for genuine peace talks and that he will withdraw if the alleged assassin is not arrested.
“The Kenyan authorities told me to be patient and said they were going to hold a meeting over the matter. We are going to withdraw unless this guy (Nyerew) is arrested and investigated. Our stand is that we have to go back to where we came from,” Gen. Buoy states. “I want to tell South Sudan that Juba is not ready for peace and what they want is only to lure the opposition leaders to assassinate them in Nairobi. This is the game those of Kiir are playing and we will not accept that. This is my view and statement but we are going to meet as opposition leaders and come out with an official statement.”
Relatedly, Ter Manyang Gatwech, the Executive Director of the Center for Peace and Advocacy (CPA) on Monday urged the Government of Kenya to provide maximum protection for opposition leaders during the ongoing peace talks in Nairobi.
“Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, CPA received credible reports that a National Security Agent from Juba was sent to harm or kill General Stephen Buay Rolnyang, the leader of the South Sudan People Movement (SSPM). The Kenyan security personnel who apprehended the NSS secret agent at the Ole-Sereni Hotel in Nairobi revealed that he claimed to have been sent by the South Sudan Presidential Security Advisor,” he wrote. “The Government of Kenya should learn from the previous cases of the late Dong Samuel and Aggrey Idri, whose disappearances in Kenya tarnished the previous administration’s human rights record. CPA urges the Government of South Sudan to investigate this serious incident to regain the trust of its citizens, the region, and the international community, all of whom are concerned about human rights abuses in the country. Every stakeholder’s voice is crucial during these ongoing peace talks.”