South Sudan's First Vice President Riek Machar has denied that he is opposed to implementation of Chapter 5, Article 3 of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, which mandates the establishment of a Hybrid Court to try war criminals.

The New York Times on Tuesday published and opinion article, known as an “op-ed”, in the name of Machar and President Salva Kiir, in which they voiced opposition to the hybrid court. Kiir's office has insisted that Machar and Kiir co-authored the article, but Machar's office now denies any involvement. His spokesman came out with a statement about the authorship of the article the day after it was published.

James Gatdet Dak, Machar's spokesman, told Radio Tamazuj, that the document published by the New York based outlet is “false,” saying Machar has no desire to drop the justice and accountability mechanism from the peace agreement.

“Dr. Machar is not aware about this document which was published by The New York Times and Radio Tamazuj as well,” said Dak. “SPLM/SPLA (IO) leadership is committed to the implementation of justice and accountability mechanism as signed in the August 2015 peace agreement.”

He concluded, “We have therefore dismissed the alleged joint appeal as unfounded. Our leadership never wrote that article.”

Ateny Wek, President Salva Kiir's press seretary, contradicted this in an interview with Radio Tamazuj today. “The opinion article was from the President and the First Vice President about the issue of transitional justice and truth and reconciliation,” he said. “After the signing of the peace agreement and formation of the transitional government of national unity... the spokesperson for the whole presidency is me,” he said. “And it was written from my office.”

Other observers, however, have suggested that the letter may have been written by a Washington-based public relations firm.

Asked why the first vice president knew about the article, Ateny replied that he did. Then why he denied it? “I don't know. I can't talk about it.”

Radio Tamazuj contacted the Office of the Public Editor at The New York Times yesterday to ask whether the newspaper came into possession of the article and whether it took any steps to verify the authenticity of the authorship of the op-ed piece before publishing it.

An automatic reply received from The New York Times stated, “The Times's next public editor, Elizabeth Spayd, will begin this summer. During this transitional period, Evan Gershkovich, an assistant in the public editor's office, will read every message that is received, and will communicate reader concerns to senior editors at The Times... this office deals specifically with issues of journalistic integrity at The New York Times.”

At time of publication The New York Times had not responded to questions on the matter, and the op-ed article on their webpage still bears the names of Riek Machar and Salva Kiir. 

The New York Times is widely known as a "newspaper of record" in the United States. A number of media houses in South Sudan, including Radio Tamazuj, Eye Radio, Sudan Tribune and others, reported on the op-ed piece following its publication, assuming that authorship of the piece had been verified by the Times prior to publication. 

Related: 

Families of war victims demand justice in South Sudan (9 June)