President Kiir on Thomas Cirillo: “He will come back just like they always do”
3 min readBy SSB Staff Writer
February 14, 2017 (SSB) — According to unverified report from The Upper Nile Times website, President Kiir is said to have compared Thomas Cirillo to Riek Machar, saying he will return just like Riek Machar defected and then returned in 2002 and 2016.
“They all went and came back during the war. Gen Thomas Cirilo will still come back” President Kiir reportedly said.
The president is further alleged to have accused leaders of other communities “of not participating in the war to liberate South Sudan and instead involve in ‘running from Jalaba and to SPLA and back”’.
“There are communities who didn’t fight the war. Some were hiding in Ethiopia others were hiding in Congo and Uganda when the rest of us were fighting Jalaba. And when they know that we are winning, they came.”
“…It’s not a new thing. Thomas came to us from Jalaba in 1990s while we were fighting the Arab for the liberation of South Sudan. In fact he was station around Juba by the Arabs to fight his brothers. He has a similar story like Dr. Riek. I don’t think he will last long. He will come back like they always come.”
“I will do everything he can to fight those who switches sides easily during hard times”, President Kiir reportedly concluded.
In a related development, the SPLA is reported to have placed over 50 senior officials from the directorate of Logistics, then headed by Lt. Gen. Thomas Cirillo Swaka, under investigation for “massive corruption” since December 2016.
Gen. Cirilo is accused of having stolen $9 million and was about to be questioned before he allegedly announced his resignation from his position and from the national army while on official duties in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The allegation of corruption leveled against Gen. Thomas Cirillo is seen by some South Sudanese as a retributive response, a political witch-hunt, from the government to silence him.
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