Malong tells government not to spread rumors about him

File photo: General Paul Malong and his wife Lucy Ayak in Nairobi on 22 March, 2018 (Radio Tamazuj)

South Sudan’s powerful former military chief Paul Malong Awan has told the Kiir administration not to circulate rumors that he is in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

There have been reports that the former chief of army staff, Paul Malong met and held secret talks with top Sudanese officials in Khartoum, sparking questions on the purpose of the alleged visit and meetings.

In an exclusive interview with Radio Tamazuj this afternoon, General Paul Malong Awan accused Kiir’s loyalists of spreading rumors that he went to Khartoum to carry out subversive activities against the South Sudanese government.

“Why are they still looking for me now? I think there is no need. As you can see me personally now I am in Nairobi, and not in Khartoum as being said,” Malong said.

“Since I came to Nairobi in November 2017, they started circulating rumors that I had applied for a visa to go to Khartoum although I don’t have a passport. My passport was taken from me when I was still in Juba,” he added.

“The rumors about me should stop and the government is the source of the ongoing rumors about me, so people should wait until they see me personally in Khartoum.”

The top general called on the current government to stop monitoring his movements, saying he is a free man after being removed by Kiir last year.

“I am free to go anywhere and I can announce it publicly if I want to go anywhere because nobody needs something from me. I am not a property of anybody,” he said.

“I am a South Sudanese and I don’t have a passport now. I was part of the liberation struggle for 21 years, but now I am denied the right to possess a passport, so this is the situation in which I am,” he added.

“I am not a property of anybody… I am responsible for my decisions as Malong, and if I want to do something I can do it.”

Malong has insisted on going to his hometown in Northern Bahr al Ghazal, saying there are family matters that need his presence there. “I am supposed to be at home because I am doing nothing here in Nairobi because my children here are busy with their education,” he said.

Malong also said he will not go back to Juba. “I have nothing to do in Juba. What will I do in Juba if I go back?” He asked.

He said there is no direct contact between him and the country’s president Salva Kiir.”I have given my telephone numbers of Kenya and Uganda to the executive director in the office of the president, but nobody contacted me,” he said.

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)