The Unlawful Detention of Dr. Riek Machar: Setting the Record Straight on SGN Claims
President Kiir and Riek Machar, Face to Face meeting in Juba, September 2019
By Cde Dut Majokdit, Juba, South Sudan
Thursday, 12 June 2025 (PW) – On June 10, 2025, Dr. Sunday De John was interviewed on SGN TV, based in Nairobi, regarding the status of the SPLM-IO and the unlawful detention of Dr. Riek Machar. He accused the People’s Movement of allowing a leadership vacuum and fleeing into exile. He further rubbed salt into the wound by recognizing the defector, Amb. Par Kuol, who had already been dismissed from the SPLM-IO on April 9, 2025.
I therefore categorically state that my leader, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, is an innocent man and has committed no crimes warranting his continued, unlawful confinement in Hai Amarat in Juba. His house arrest is a violation of the R-ARCSS and a great setback to peace and national unity. I am deeply saddened by the mass killings in Nasir and Ulang, where innocent civilians have suffered needlessly. These atrocities, committed in the Upper Nile region by the SSPDF with backing from the UPDF, must not be ignored by a political actor like Dr. Sunday De John in Nairobi.
His assertion that the ANC was run from within South Africa after the arbitrary arrest of its leader, Nelson Mandela, by President de Klerk under apartheid, is completely false and misplace. This is especially troubling when used to justify recognizing defector Amb. Par Kuol. Kuol betraying the first Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar is the cause of the struggle, including his own people in Fangak County, who are now being bombarded daily by SSPDF and UPDF forces following his appointment as National Minister of Peacebuilding.
Contrary to Dr. Sunday De John’s assertions, Comrade Oliver Tambo played a central role in leading the ANC during its toughest times in the exile after 1960. Comrade Tambo served as the Acting President of ANC following Chief Albert Luthuli’s death in 1967 until 11th February 1990, when Nelson Mandela was released and eventually elected as the first black President in the history of South Africa in 1994. The African National Congress Party (ANC) leadership operated largely from outside South Africa during the most repressive years of the apartheid regime, a rogue and fascist regime based in Pretoria.
The situation we face today as the leadership of the SPLM/SPLA-IO is not unique. Our leader, Dr. Riek Machar, continues to serve as the legitimate Chairman and Commander-in-Chief, as well as the first Vice President. Gen. Nathaniel Oyet is only serving in an acting capacity, pending Dr. Riek Machar’s full and unconditional release. The leadership of the SPLM-IO remains intact and committed to Peace and reform.
We did not run anywhere, Dr. Sunday De John. To recognize a defected member from the party and using them as a political tool does not weaken the SPLM-IO movement in South Sudan for those intending to. Such defections are normal in politics and will not derail our resolve. The R-ARCSS was signed by Kiir and Machar, and named specifically Gen. Salva Kiir as the President and Dr. Riek Machar Teny as the First Vice President. This peace agreement remains as the binding framework for peace and stability in South Sudan. We must support peace instead of the disintegration of the state.
The people of South Sudan are tired of war and ethnic politics. Any desperate attempt to unilaterally remove Dr. Riek Machar Teny and install another individual, such as Ambassador Stephen Par Kuol, as first Vice President is unconstitutional and threatens the collapse of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU). Let it be known that those who are campaigning to destroy peace, are endangering the nation. The R-ARCSS is the supreme law guiding our political transition in South Sudan, tampering with it would render the R-TGONU and President Salva Kiir Mayardit illegitimate. President Salva Kiir is fully aware of these implications.
In a nutshell, the only viable path forward is the unconditional release of Dr. Riek Machar and a return to inclusive dialogue to implement the peace agreement in full for political settlement and realization of stability. We are determined, whether as exiles or inside South Sudan, to bring reform about to South Sudan and for our people.
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