A South Sudanese minister has defected to the rebels, according to a
letter seen by Reuters on Friday, becoming the second high-level
resignation this week in the war-ravaged nation.
Lieutenant General Gabriel Duop Nam, the minister of Labour, sent a
one-page letter saying he would join the rebellion of former vice
president Riek Machar.
"I reaffirm my full allegiance and commitment to the ... wise leadership of H.E. Dr. Riek Machar," he wrote.
Two rebel spokesmen confirmed the authenticity of the letter to Reuters. The government spokesman however declined to comment.
Oil-rich South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, was plunged into
civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, fired
Machar, his deputy and an ethnic Nuer.
The fighting that followed has increasingly followed ethnic lines, and
in December the United nations warned that it was setting the stage for
genocide. More than three million of the country's 11 million citizens
have been forced to flee their homes.
No comments:
Post a Comment