General Stephen Buoy Rolnyang, chairman and commander-in-chief of SSPM/A. |File Photo|
By Vincent Samuel,
Nairobi, 20 May 2024—Chairman and Commander-In-Chief of the South Sudan People’s Movement/Army, General Stephen Buoy Rolnyang requested the Chief Mediator of High-Level Mediation for South Sudan, General Lazaros Sumbeiywo to evacuate him and his group from Nairobi to a safer country, citing security concerns.
In a written letter sent to General Lazaros Sumbeiywo, and seen by Golden Times, General Buoy said he received an urgent intelligence report from Juba that President Kiir’s security advisor, Tut Gatluak Kew dispatched a hit squat to assassination him in Nairobi.
General Buoy said on 16 May, the government of South Sudan hired some Kenyan nationals to execute the assassination plan.
“The Juba security agents employed Kenyan agents wearing dark eyeglasses; the [agents] came to Ole Sereni Hotel where they were hiding in toilets and [seen] carrying some pictures in their hands [to identify the target] which might be me; and I noticed them and I returned to my room and immediately alerted the security. I reported it to you [Lazaros Sumbeiywo], Michael Makuei [government’s spokesperson] refuted in front of everybody,” Buoy said.
Buoy said Tut Kew tasked Mr. John Top Nyerew to collaborate with the alleged hired Kenyan assassins to execute the assassination plan.
Buoy said John Top met him in the hotel and confessed that he was sent to assassinate the opposition members currently engaging in the peace talks being mediated by the Kenyan government.
“John Top Nyerew, the one whom Tut Gatluak Kew sent came in person looking for me in the hotel and found me sitting with my two officers eating supper. John Top said he was sent to assassinate me. He narrated how Tut Kew was using plenty of money [to hire assassins] to assassin me. John Top said that was his mission to Nairobi,” Buoy added.
According to Buoy, it was John Top who kidnapped Dong Samuel and Aggrey Idris Ezbon from Nairobi and handed them to South Sudan’s security agents who they later got killed in the notorious security facility dubbed ‘The Blue House.’
“Considering the above security concerns, Juba is not ready for any peace talks. Their objective is to lure the opposition to Kenyan and assassinate them one by one as I told you [Lazaros Sumbeiywo] last time in my letter in response to your invitation letter. I, therefore, request your esteemed office that the SSPM/A and SSUNA team withdraw from the talks, and needs immediate evacuation from Nairobi back to where we came from,” Buoy appealed.
Last week, South Sudanese expressed mixed reactions to the ongoing peace talks between the government of national unity and SSOMA [South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance] also known as holdout groups.
Some citizens who spoke to Golden Times said the government relocated the venue for the peace talks from Rome to Nairobi for in case the talks end with no breakthrough, the government would then use its security apparatus to get hold of the leaders of holdout groups.
The leader of the National Salvation Front [NAS], General Thomas Cirilo Swaka also shares the same concerns and declined to be part of the Nairobi peace talks.
