Is Senator Patrick Leahy’s depiction of Kiir and Machar “condescending and hostile” as Ateny Wek stated?
NCMP
January 22, 2022
The presidential press secretary, Ateny Wek Ateny, has called the latest request on President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his first deputy, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, to resign by a top U.S. senator as “hostile and condescending.”
Senator Patrick Leahy had called for the two leaders to quit the country’s political scene, stating they had “failed to maintain their responsibility to create the environment for peace and development but rather placed self-preservation and corruption above the interests of the people.”
Senator Leahy who is also the president pro tempore of the United States Senate wrote in a statement published on January 6, 2022, that the two leaders, “… would be well-advised to stand aside so that others, chosen in a free and fair election, can begin the process of uniting and rebuilding the country.”
However, at a news conference at the statehouse yesterday, Ateny Wek Ateny claimed the call on President Kiir and FVP Machar was uninformed of the repercussions such eventuality may bring.
Ateny berated Senator Leahy for calling on Western powers to instead help alternative political parties like the People’s Coalition for Civil Action (PCCA), a group advocating for the overthrow of the existing administration and religious leaders to achieve a peaceful and democratic solution.
“The authorities of South Sudan appreciate the sustained US assistance for the people of South Sudan and the close relations between the two nations. Notwithstanding this mutual agreement, the Revitalized Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) was horrified by the tone and language that the Honourable Senator deployed in expressing his dissatisfaction of the county’s present political predicament. It was condescending and rude.
The R-TGNoNU found it odd that the Honourable Senator stands with would-be-rioters to obtain democracy in South Sudan but in the United States,” he said equating the PCCA to the assault of supporters of former President Donald Trump attack the U.S Capitol on January 6, 2021,” he said.
