By Philip Buda Ladu
President Salva Kiir Maryardit yesterday said there is no problem of insecurity in the capital city Juba, clearing the public’s dilemmas and fears of possible repeat of the 2016 J1 incident.
Some media reported of security deployment around the streets of Presidential Palace J1 and the routes leading to the residence of the First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar over the weekend as the two principals differ on the unification of unified forces’ command.
The recent developments signaling fragile working relationship between the two main principals of the Revitalized agreement prompted President Salva Kiir to call for a press conference to restore public hope in the peace implementation and reiterated pledge of no return to war despite the bumpy road.
“I come before you today to affirm my Government’s commitment to peace in our country, in many of my public remarks I had pledged that I would not deliberately return this country into war and I remained committed to this pledge,” Kiir told journalists at a press conference Monday.
“There is no problem of security in the streets of Juba, the security deployment that maybe seen in the streets of Juba is a normal thing that can happen in any other country,” the President stated.
“In Juba there are some people who are criminals within the civil population and these people can sometimes for instance fire some bullets close to the residence of Dr. Riek Machar and we might think that these are people who have started attacking others,” he underlined.
The President stressed that the presence of the soldiers on the road doesn’t mean that there is problem of insecurity in Juba.
Meanwhile responding to alleged reported official declaration of war by the SPLA-IO against the SSPDF as reported by Gen. Lul Ruai Koang the SSPDF’s Spokesperson, President Salva Kiir said the communication should be treated as personal statement not approved by the SPLM and SSPDF.
“I would say that is a personal statement, it has not been agreed at the SPLM or SSPDF so that he goes and say something like that, so that’s a personal statement and it shouldn’t be alleged as the position of the gov’t that it will later go and fight,” Kiir underscored.
He said there are challenges they need to confront honestly as people along with their partners to maintain total peace and bring prosperity to their people.
“One challenge that has paralyzed our progress is the negative narrative cultivated during the war about the government. This same negative narrative has depicted many senior government officials in their jobs,” the President said.
President Kiir said for those who follow events in the country they know that this narrative has external dimensions but it is mostly rooted in the internal political competition which was and is still driven by personal ambitions that doesn’t factor the best interest of the country into considerations.
“We are all aware that in the period between 2013 and 2016 atrocities were commitment by both sides in the war, these unfortunate events were investigated by prominent personalities, like President Obasanjo of Nigeria who submitted his report to the African Union. His report found allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity” he noted.