CONFUTATION TO THE ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY THE EYE OF THE NATION COMMITTEE ON 27TH JANUARY 2019.

BY  BOL AGAU ADHIL.

We learned of the formation of the Eye of the Nation Committee under the January Declaration at Thongpiny, Maj. Gen. Rin Tueny's Residential House. The Mission of this Dubious Committee was formed to launch a Propaganda Machine to discredit Amb. Telar Ring Deng.

In August, 22nd 2018, when Amb. Telar Ring Deng returned to Juba after H.E. the President formed a Delegation headed by Hon. Tor Deng Mawien to meet him in Nairobi and ask him to return to Juba for more consultations as to why he resigned. On arrival to Juba, his political critics immediately started propagating against him on the social media and street politics. Their fear was that and it is still now, that Amb. Telar would diminish their chances of getting appointed to the limited government positions of the R-ARCISS. While Amb. Telar was away for one year, none of the people who are crying foul got appointed for reasons known best to them.

Now, we want to respond to the allegations and malicious propaganda contained therein by the self-appointed prefects of the Eye of the Nation Committee which unfortunately included Michael Mabor Rin, whom Amb. Telar Ring Deng educated up to secondary school level and had lived with him for 15 years, Mabor Rin Tueny who also cannot deny Amb. Telar Ring Deng Academic Credentials, what a betrayal? The wise men once said, do not bite the hands that feed you.

First and foremost, allow us to respond to the first point of Amb. Telar Ring Deng’s 1991 Rebellion under Dr. Riek Machar, Dr. Lam Akol and Gen. Gordon Kong.

There is no denial that Amb. Telar Ring Deng supported the August Declaration of 1991 on grounds that Nasir Faction declared to fight for self-determination for the people of South Sudan, release the political prisoners, and declare the objectives of the SPLA Movement and observance of Human Rights. Unfortunately, within a short period of time, the Nasir Faction invaded Northern Bor and Bor Centre and grossly violated the Human Rights by killing innocent civilians. In February 1992, the Nasir Faction Delegation led by Dr. Lam Akol met with Government Delegation in Frankfurt, Germany and signed an agreement with the government, betraying the cause of the people of South Sudan. Amb. Telar Ring Deng and Maulana Deng Tiel Ayuen vehemently protested over the signing of such an agreement, hence both of them resigned on the 14th February 1992. These are facts. Please refer to Dr. Lam Akol book ( SPLA/M: Nasir Declaration 2011). After his resignation from the Nasir Faction, Dr. John Garang De Mabior appointed him as a Spokesman for the SPLM in East and Horn of Africa based in Nairobi in the same year. Amb. Telar pleaded with Dr. John Garang to allow him to go to the UK for further studies leading to his LLM (Masters of Law).

On his return to Nairobi, after his further studies, Late Mario Muor Muor appointed Amb. Telar Ring as a Legal Advisor for SRRA, after consultations with Commander Salva Kiir Mayardit who was by then the Chair of the Board of Directors of SRRA in 1996.

Furthermore, the Dubious Committee proves that they are not capable of conducting research. Their academic competence is betrayed by the poor data collection. We here-in-refer to the alleged reconciliation mediated by late Dr. Deng Dongrin and Hon. David Deng Athorbei to bring together Amb. Telar Ring Deng and late Chairman Dr. John Garang as a poor reconnection to historical facts. As we refer to the above information, Amb. Telar Ring was appointed by Dr. John following his resignation from the Nasir Faction in 1992. Kindly Check your facts.

To prove that there were no reconciliations done by Dr. Deng Dongrin and David Deng Athorbei, Amb. Telar was already in the SPLM/A system. After all David Deng Athorbei was not holding any official political position in the SPLM/A, he was a UNICEF/OLS Consultant seconded by UNICEF to SRRA where Amb. Telar Ring was already a Legal Advisor. He did not have any links to reconcile members of the same organization who were working harmoniously. In 2002, late Deng Dongrin was not in any SPLM Political position to trigger any reconciliation between Amb. Telar and Dr. John Garang who were Alternate Commander and a Commander in Chief of the SPLA respectively.

We pity the Committee for mentioning the Rumbek Minutes and shamelessly alleging that Amb. Telar Ring leaked the minutes to NCP. Rumbek Minutes were produced towards the end of the year in the first week of December 2004 before the CPA was signed on the 9th January 2005. Amb. Telar Ring was appointed as the State Minister in the Presidency in Khartoum in September 2005 and the minutes were already public and written into a book by the civil society. Succinctly, there were two hard copies of the Rumbek Minutes and a softcopy. One hardcopy and a softcopy were handed over to C-in-C and the other one hardcopy to Commander Salva. When the minutes were leaked to the media, Napoleon Adok Gai, a computer IT Scientist working for the Gurtong Project by then was asked to trace where exactly and who exactly leaked the minutes, it was found out that a certain Ali Mayen guy leaked them in Uganda (Dr. Garang’s copies were kept by that Ali Mayen) and that time of the leakage, Dr. John Garang was in Uganda with Ali Mayen.

In the first place when Amb. Telar was the Caretaker Governor; there were no projects under him as a caretaker governor. As we all are aware of, he was Caretaker governor for only three months. This is the first time for us to hear about these alleged projects. We would be more than pleased to be informed more about this project. Can the claims be substantiated by producing the agreement between Egypt and Government of Southern Sudan for the electrification of Rumbek City Project? All national projects are signed by the Ministry of Finance and the related government agency concerned and authenticated by the Ministry of Justice. Check the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for such bilateral projects between Egypt and Government of Southern Sudan by then. The Caretaker Governors main mission was to oversee the elections processes. At no one point was he there to implement developmental projects.

About the house of Amb. Telar, we would like the Committee to go to the Anti-Corruption Commission and inquire more. Amb. Telar Ring declared his assets in writing as required by the Order of the President in 2011/2 which required all the constitutional post-holders to declare their assets. He who comes to equity comes to equity with clean hands. He has nothing to hide.

Concerning the alleged rift between H.E. President Salva and Dr. Riek Machar, please read the following narrative; on 5th March 2013 a meeting was held in J1 and attended by H.E. President Kiir, Dr. Riek Machar, Wani Igga, Deng Alor (who chaired the meeting), Paul Mayom Akech, James Kok Ruea, Kosti Manibe, John Luk Jok, Pieng Deng Majok, James Hoth Mai etc. The Agenda was to reconcile H.E. President Kiir and Dr. Riek. However, the reconciliation failed. In the same meeting, two candidates declared their interest to contest for the SPLM Chairmanship, i.e. Dr. Riek Machar and Pagan Amum. Dr. Riek went further and asked the President to step down from his position of the President of the Republic of South Sudan so that he may take over. He accused President Kiir of failing the country.He was an aggrieved member and he shared why he felt the President Salva Kiir needed to step down. Some of his main concerns were corruption, nepotism and rampant insecurity among others. This was the genesis of the current rift. The rift was not created by Amb. Telar Ring Deng as the Legal Advisor to the President by then. It is quite appalling that you do not know very many things that happen within the SPLM/A.

President Kiir found himself challenged in the party and in the government, like any other president in the world; he used his constitutional powers to withdraw the delegated powers from Dr. Riek Machar and finally dismissed him from his position. He also dismissed all the members of his Cabinet. The President in consultation with the defunct Politico-Military High Command Members; Gen Wani Igga, Gen. Daniel Awet Akot and Gen Kuol Manyang Juuk were the ones responsible for the dissolution and formation of Cabinet.

The inability to conduct research in the expected standards always results in poor findings. The vetting of Amb. Telar Ring Deng in the National Legislative Assembly was not based on his academic credentials but rather on a political witch hunt. The findings of the Vetting Committee reads; “The Candidate is highly qualified and experienced….”. There was no mention of rejection on grounds of lack of academic credentials. The report is with the Clerk of the Assembly. Amb. Telar Ring’s academic qualifications are not to be doubted. You can check with the University of Buckingham where he did his LLB and LLM. Before he studied Law, he was expected to do an undergraduate which he did at the State University of Stony Brook in New York. He did a BA in Political Science and Anthropology. I bet you did not know that. All these can be checked at the Various universities he went to for they have records.

In January 2017, while on leave in Juba, Amb. Telar Ring Deng was requested by the President to stay in Juba until the Six Million, Two Hundred and Twenty Four Thousand United States Dollars ($6,224,000) that was to be compensated for the Russian Chopper and the three crew members who were shot down by SPLA forces was processed and sent to the Russian Federation. This money was transferred by Bank of South Sudan to Alpha Commercial Bank in South Sudan to Alpha Commercial Bank. Alpha Commercial Bank, transferred the same money to Chase Bank in Nairobi as its corresponding bank. Unfortunately, before the Chase Bank could transfer the money to the recipient account in the Russian Federation, Chase Bank went into crisis and all the accounts were frozen and the Central Bank of Kenya put Chase Bank under receivership status. Check your facts with the Alpha Commercial Bank, Bank of South Sudan, Ministry of Finance and the Office of the President. Facts do not lie, people do!

In November 2017, Amb. Telar was on an official leave request granted by both the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Undersecretary. If Nairobi, where his family lives has become a hub of lobbying for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Minister and the Undersecretary would not have granted him the leave days there. The lobbying and appointment for the Ministries and government positions in the Republic of South Sudan happen in South Sudan. But maybe you can explain to us if it happens in Nairobi, Kenya. We are not aware of that.

Finally, Mr. William Alexander Keating is unknown to us and we have consulted with Amb. Telar Ring Deng and found out that he does not know him. Please enlighten us on who he is. We are eager to know. He must be known to you the Eye of the Nation Committee very well as your good connections with SSUF/A are concerned. Kindly educate us on who that person is.

In conclusion, it is quite questionable that you say Amb. Telar is the one who was the mastermind of everything in South Sudan. With that in mind, are you informing the public that H.E. Salva Kiir Mayardit is incapable of making his own decisions and therefore relies on Amb. Telar Ring Deng?

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

Yours on facts and truth;

1. Bec George Jongwiir Anyak;
2. Joseph Ghai Mayen Beny;
3. Bol Joseph Agau Adhil;
4. Acheng Andrew Anhiem Bahon;
5. John Nhial Maker Gum;
6. Emmanuel Dhaal Marial Kot;
7. Zindia Madit Maker Gum;
8. Yar Telar Ring Deng.

Dated: 27th January 2019, Juba, South Sudan