Prime
Sort out your mess Oryem tells S. Sudan
Mr Okello Oryem
Kampala.
Uganda has told the government of South Sudan to stop shuttling between Juba and Kampala but enter dialogue with the warring forces and the citizens to sort out the mess in the country and find a solution for lasting peace.
The State minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Okello Oryem, said it is useless for South Sudan leaders to keep flying between Juba and Entebbe without listening to the cries of their citizens who are fleeing the country into Uganda yet they (leaders) enjoy the comfort of living in hotels and flying for meetings.
“Right now you are going back to Juba but I advise you that instead of flying to Juba via Entebbe, go by road and hold meetings with people who are fleeing the war at Elegu [border]. Listen to them and tell them the issues we have discussed here,” Mr Oryem told the South Sudanese delegation during the South Sudan State of Nation dialogue on Friday.
The dialogue was convened by Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment.
Asked if President Salva Kiir and Dr Riek Machar can enter a peace dialogue, Mr Ateny We Ateny, the South Sudan government spokesperson, dismissed the rebel leader and former vice president, saying he is “very insignificant” in the South Sudan politics. He said the South Sudan government cannot start looking for him because there is already a substantive and capable vice president.
“How do we start looking for him? Who is he?” Ateny charged.
Fighting broke out last month in the South Sudan capital Juba after Dr Riek Machar, the rebel leader and former first vice president left for his rebel base following the failed peace pact.
Regional leaders were yesterday in Addis Ababa to discuss the South Sudan crisis and possibility of deploying a regional intervention force.
