A politician who recently joined the SPLM-Juba faction of Salva Kiir denied rumors that he was detained by security agents at Juba Airport upon arrival from Nairobi, Kenya earlier this week.
James Khan Jok, who earlier in the week returned to Juba after claiming to have defected from the rebels, said Wednesday he decided to come to Juba willingly.
“The allegations that I was arrested at the airport by SPLA chief of general staff Paul Malong and director of Internal Security Service Akol Kur were mere lies,” he said.
He instead claimed that he was warmly welcomed by those senior government officials in the capital Juba last Friday.
Jok admitted that he lost his position as state minister of education after defecting to the rebels in December last year, but said he cannot be unseated from the state parliament.
“Nobody can remove me from Upper Nile state Legislative Assembly because I was elected as an MP representing Ulang County,” he said.
However, he could lose his membership if he missed over twelve parliamentary sessions without permission, as stipulated by the national asssembly’s 2011 conduct of business protocol.
Accusing the rebels
Separately, Khan accused the SPLM-IO under Riek Machar of breaching the cessation of hostilities agreements.
“Riek Machar has no full control over his forces and that every field commander is operating independently without any orders from him,” he said.
Jok also questioned why the rebels deny that he was part of their movement, saying that he had been an active member of the rebel leadership before defecting to the government.
The SPLM-IO said that Jok was not part of their movement, but only fled Malakal town when fighting broke out due to personal and administrative problems with the state government.
The former state minister further said the opposition had no objective and that they are just fighting for power by trying to dissolve elected institutions.
Jok called for an urgent peace deal for the sake of the people of South Sudan whom he said are dying every day and night.
Radio Tamazuj Photo: James Khan Jok returns from Nairobi to pledge allegiance to Salva Kiir.
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