South Sudan’s presidency dismissed as ‘propaganda’ a statement by Riek Machar’s spokesperson James Gatdet Dak that the Juba-based government is supporting ‘rebels’ in Ethiopia.
President Salva Kiir’s spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny said in a statement that the allegation “has no base in reality.”
Dak had accused Kiir’s government of hosting, training, and arming Ethiopian ‘rebels’ in order to launch attacks in South Sudan and in Ethiopia’s Gambella region, Sudan Tribune reported.
Ateny said such charges are “mere fabricated lies” aimed at pulling Ethiopia into South Sudan’s civil war on Machar’s behalf.
“South Sudan is a victim of senseless rebellions, and so it cannot wish its neighbor Ethiopia to fall into the abyss of endless senseless wars,” Ateny said.
Allies of Kiir have recently questioned the role of Ethiopia, whose government for more than a year led the now-collapsed peace talks between South Sudan’s warring factions.
During a Wednesday rally in Juba for Kiir, one religious leader warned of threats from the “east.” A member of Kiir’s cabinet, Martin Elia, said the international community should pay more attention to alleged human rights violations against the Oromo ethnic group in Ethiopia instead of abuses committed during South Sudan’s civil war.
South Sudan’s government has said peace talks should be moved from Ethiopia to Kenya.
Map: refugee flows from South Sudan into Ethiopia