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JUBA - 18 Aug 2017

Rebecca Garang's top aide fears kidnap from Kenya

File photo: Rebecca Nyandeng Garang
File photo: Rebecca Nyandeng Garang

A South Sudanese opposition official based in Nairobi, Michael Mabior, said Friday that a friend in the South Sudanese security services had told him that agents wanted to kidnap him from Kenya.

Michael, the executive director of Rebecca Garang’s political office, told Radio Tamazuj that he feared he may go missing in Nairobi at any time after receiving threats from unknown agents in the past two days.

"There are anti-peace elements in the government of South Sudan that are planning to either harm me or kidnap me like what they did previously. Actually I was informed two days ago about this development,” he said.

“Two days ago I received a message of threat. They said we know what you are going and definitely what you are doing will not succeed and therefore we will show you our true colour,” he explained.

Michael, who is also the former political detainees’ coordinator, pointed out the agents sent the message from an anonymous number in Kenya. He revealed that the anti-peace elements want to sabotage peace efforts led by President Kiir to reconcile with Rebecca Nyandeng Garang, the widow of the late SPLM leader John Garang de Mabior.

“This thing is being done to anger Madam Rebecca to say that now the president is trying to make peace and the national security is doing a different thing all together. So this is what the elements are trying to do. Sincerely, what is happening is not from the national security,” he said.

The former detainees are a group of high level SPLM leaders who were arrested and released at the start of the South Sudan Civil War in December 2013 before going into exile in neighbouring countries.

On Thursday, former politician turned good governance activist Wol Deng Atak expressed fear that security agents in South Sudan want him deported back to Juba or kidnaped from Nairobi.