Malong did not travel to Khartoum: family

South Sudan’s exiled former army chief, Gen. Paul Malong Awan, has not travelled to the Sudanese capital Khartoum as earlier reported, family members and relatives said.

Malong's wife, Lucy Ayak Malek, told Radio Tamazuj today that General Paul Malong is still in Nairobi, pointing out that her husband does not have an ordinary passport after President Salva Kiir sacked him.

“The old passport of the former army chief was taken by the government. Since he was declared a rebel by the government, he was not given a new passport,” she said.

“General Malong is now with his children in Nairobi. Malong can only travel to Uganda using a travel document because he does not have a passport,” she added.

A close associate of Malong in Juba also confirmed that the former army chief has not travelled to Khartoum.

Another relative in Khartoum said:” General Malong is my uncle. I would have met him in Khartoum, but he has not come here.”

In January, Kiir accused his former army chief Paul Malong - whom he previously released into exile through mediation brokered by Dinka elders - of mobilizing for war.

Malong was prevented from going to his hometown in Northern Bahr al Ghazal after being released from house arrest in Juba in November last year.

Radio Tamazuj