South Sudan’s Cabinet Affairs Minister Dr. Martin Elia Lomuro who is a member of the new government delegation to the Government of Kenyan mediated Tumaini Initiative peace talks on Monday called a press conference in Nairobi during which he falsely accused Radio Tamazuj of running a news item saying that he had been expelled from the talks by the chief mediator, Gen. Lazarus Sumbeiywo, for being anti-peace.
Lomuro who is the team’s rapporteur purported that the opposition is working with certain bloggers and journalists to undermine the talks.
“This press conference is to essentially alleviate the concerns of our citizens who know that we have come here to negotiate peace for them and to negate the negative social media campaign which has been engineered by the opposition and holdout groups and their friends all over the place. They have recruited journalists and bloggers to create a negative impression about the peace process,” he said. “I have been targeted because as the rapporteur and also as the secretary of the High-level Standing Committee, I have the information that is ready to be used in the negotiations and it seems to create a lot of fear among the other side. I want to assure our people that I am here. Lazarus Sumbeiywo is a very responsible and very well-known peace mediator and he cannot be described as someone who chases a senior minister of the government delegation.”
Lomuro added: “So, this news that has been spread undermines the name of Lazarus Sumbeiywo and has been announced by Radio Tamazuj and everybody knows that Tamazuj is a station that throughout has been against the government.”
Radio Tamuzuj did not run such a news item but it was written on Facebook by an entity called The Watch Press.
Radio Tamazuj is independent, credible, impartial, and critical in our reporting of fact-based news and information. We are not against any group but stand for the truth and will continue exposing corruption, bad governance, human rights abuses, and other malpractices by any entity or person.
Considering our bold stand for truth and justice, it is understandable that some officials and individuals are paranoid about Radio Tamazuj.
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