Juba accuses defected diplomat of trying to dodge fraud claims
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November 22, 2014 (JUBA) - The South Sudanese government has confirmed the
defection of one of its diplomats in neighbouring Ethiopia, citing
allegations of financial fraud as the reason behind the decision.
It also said that David Dang Kong was a first secretary at the embassy and
not the deputy head of mission to Ethiopia as was previously reported.
Kong, an ethnic Nuer, announced on Friday he was joining the SPLM/A in
Opposition faction led by former vice-president Riek Machar.
The move comes one month after South Sudan's foreign affairs ministry
ordered the diplomat to return to the capital, Juba, within 72 hours.
In an interview with Sudan Tribune, Kong accused the Juba government of
creating a climate of fear at South Sudanese embassies in a bid to force
Nuer diplomats to abandon their posts.
"The securities of [president] Salva Kiir who are from [the] Bhar Ghazal
region are targeting Nuer diplomats and citizens at South Sudan embassies
across the world," he said.
.
"This has happened at our embassies in New York, China, Kenya, South Africa,
Eritrea - and now in Ethiopia," he added.
However, the spokesperson for the ministry of foreign affairs, Mawien Makol,
told Sudan Tribune on Saturday that Kong had defected in order to dodge
fraud claims.
"All the reasons he (Kong) cited as the cause for defection are false.
Nobody is doing that. What I know about this defection is that he wanted to
run away from accountability of the money he misappropriated at the embassy
and when he was called to come for [an] explanation, he refused," Makol said
during an exclusive interview.
Kong's defection comes after South Sudan's former ambassador to Geneva,
Lumumba Stanislaus, and former MP Henry Dillah Odwar, announced their
defection to the opposition group following a meeting with Machar on
Thursday.
But Makol has denied that Lumumba had ever served in an official capacity in
Geneva.
"The ministry of foreign affairs has record showing that he was an
ambassador. What I know about him is that he was an ambassador in Sudan and
was deployed to Geneva, Switzerland, but when we seceded from Sudan he was
never appointed and therefore he was not an employ of the ministry of
foreign affairs," he said.
The South Sudanese government and pro-Machar rebels have been engaged in an
armed struggle since mid-December last year following a political split in
the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).
The conflict has reignited tribal tensions across the country, particularly
between Kiir's Dinka tribe and the Nuer, to which Machar hails.
Tens of thousands have died and over 1.5 million displaced since conflict
broke out between the rival SPLM factions.