The Embassy of the United Kingdom in South Sudan says that it is not true that the 'Troika' countries of the US, UK and Norway wrote a letter requesting the removal of the South Sudanese finance minister and central bank governor.

Under the headline “Troika advises Kiir to fire Athorbei and Koryom,” Eye Radio yesterday said that the three countries set 'preconditions' for a package of aid to assist the new unity government, which is facing a huge budget deficit.

“The Troika has asked the interim government to fire the Minister of Finance, David Deng Athorbei and of Central Bank Governor Kornelio Koryom Mayiik if they want the west to finance TgoNU,” stated Eye Radio.

Charles Luganya Ronyo, Political and Press Officer at the British Embassy in Juba, denies this. “The Troika wish to clarify that the allegation of having sent a letter demanding changes to Government positions is false,” reads a press release from the embassy that he circulated this morning.

“The Troika and its partners remain committed to working with the Transitional Government of National Unity, and all its Ministers, to ensure a coherent approach to the economic challenges faces by South Sudan,” adds the statement.

Eye Radio in its report did not cite any sources except for Presidential Press Secretary Ateny Wek. Earlier this month Ateny's office sent an opinion article to The New York Times claiming to be written by Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, but the latter denied having any hand in the authorship and rejected the substance of the article.

“The matters of changing the Minister of Finance or changing the Governor of Central Bank are matters of sovereignty of a given country. They are not imposed by a foreign power simply because they would support or they would be giving money here or there,” Ateny said, as quoted by Eye Radio yesterday.

“My appeal to Troika is to stop those conditions and support South Sudan unconditionally,” added the presidency official.

Eye Radio is funded by USAID through Internews, a media development organization.

No changes or corrections were yet made to the Eye Radio article at time of publication of this article at about 10:30 a.m., 21 June. 

The South Sudanese government is reported to have been in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help close a budget deficit of several hundred million dollars this year, but no deal has yet been reached.