DRC gov't spokesman denies the presence of Riek Machar in Congo's capital Kinshasa
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Machar left South Sudan over fears for his safety, according to SPLM-IO deputy spokesperson Dickson Gatluak.“The government had been on the offensive, trying to hunt him down in the bush where he had been hiding.”
Machar originally fled the capital Juba when fighting broke out between 8-11 July and President Salva Kiir subsequently sacked him as vice-president and replaced him with Taban Deng Gai, a former ally of Machar’s.
“He’s actually relocated to a neighbouring country,” said Gatluak, who refused to be drawn on Machar’s location. “We cannot disclose his whereabouts but the main thing is, he’s safe and out of the country.”
Reports of wounding denied
Gatluak also dismissed other reports indicating that Machar had been injured. Kenyan media said Machar had been wounded and was in a remote location in the DRC.
“That’s not true, it’s not true at all, Dr Machar’s not injured, he’s safe and he’s well,” said Gatluak, adding that Machar would soon convene a press conference.
Meanwhile, the South Sudanese government said it was not aware of Machar’s whereabouts.
“As to whether he left South Sudan, I don’t know,” Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth told RFI.
“If there is anything to do with the leadership of the SPLM-IO, whether Riek Machar comes back or not, that is a sole, internal issue of the IO, I have nothing to do with it,” added Lueth.
UN troops
The SPLM-IO has previously indicated that Machar will only return to Juba once the UN has deployed an extra 4,000 troops to bolster its peacekeeping force.
The opposition leader’s appointment as vice-president was a key element to a peace agreement that saw the formation of a transitional government with ministerial posts split between the government and SPLM-IO.
However, the outbreak of fighting in July led to the disintegration of the transitional government and failure of the peace deal.
The civil war in South Sudan started in December 2013 when Kiir sacked Machar after accusing him of plotting a coup.
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South Sudan opposition leader Riek Machar still ‘not in the hands’ of the Congolese authorities
“Riek Machar is not in the hands of the DRC authorities,” Lambert Mende, spokesperson for the DRC government, told RFI. “If he is in our country, he entered the country without our permission.”
Mende’s comments, however, contradict the position of the UN which played a key role in helping transfer Machar and his family from a location near the border with South Sudan to elsewhere in the DRC.
“Riek Machar has been handed over to the authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we’re not in a position to confirm his location,” said Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for the UN in New York.
Haq said that the UN mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) was alerted to the presence of Machar in the DRC and then contacted the Congolese authorities. Kinshasa then requested that MONUSCO facilitate Machar’s “extraction” and “transfer to their care”, according to Haq.
“Why are they dispatching information that he is in our hands, yet he is not in our hands,” said Mende, speaking by telephone. “We don’t know if they [MONUSCO] managed to have him in [the country] without telling us.”
Sources close to the matter have indicated that Machar is currently in Kisangani, in the north east of the country, according to the AFP news agency.
The Congolese information minister had on Thursday denied any knowledge of Machar being in DRC before the UN subsequently said they helped facilitate his transfer. Officials from Machar’s group, the SPLM-IO, said on Thursday that Machar relocated to a neighbouring country over fears for safety.
Machar had not been injured, according to a SPLM-IO who spoke to RFI on Thursday. However, the Kenyan media has reported that the opposition leader needed medical assistance and had been injured in the leg.
Machar originally fled the capital Juba when fighting broke out between 8-11 July and President Salva Kiir then subsequently sacked him as vice president.
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