October 29th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – Warning by the government of Britain against its citizens traveling to war-torn South Sudan is politically motivated, South Sudan’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a strong-worded statement on Monday.
Last week, the British government warned citizens against travel to South Sudan and urged those already in the country to immediately leave over what a statement by the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) described as surging “violence and crimes.”
In a statement issued on Monday, South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said the decision is politically motivated and aimed at keeping away investors who have returned to the country because of what it said is a “improved security situation.”
“This imprudent advice issued by the Government of the United Kingdom at this time in which the security has tremendously improved, and investors and nationals of other countries of the world, have started to come back to invest and visit the country, in addition to the projects being carried out by our partners, among them the project of girls education sponsored by the United kingdom itself, could only be interpreted to have been based on politically motivated purposes and on unsubstantiated facts on the ground,” the statement seen by the Nyamilepedia partly reads.
“Otherwise why should the Government of the United Kingdom invest on girls’ education in a country which is not secured and safe in its perspective? This is a clear contradiction,” it adds.
The statement then urged the United Kingdom to reconsider its language and be more constructive saying such statements jeopardize efforts to achieve in the country which has been in an internal war for more almost six years.
“What the Government of the Republic of South Sudan really needs at this critical time in its history,” the statement reads “is for the countries like the United Kingdom to reconsider its language and be more constructive as well as to support the implementation of be Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS), which is the main focus now, and not to scare its citizens from coming or visiting the Republic of South Sudan which is now more secured and safer than any time before as early mentioned.”
However, in a meeting of the National Security Council shared by President Salva Kiir in late-September, South Sudan government said there was a “high-level increase of crimes” in the capital Juba and the president – at the time – directed the security forces to combat such surge.
The latest government statement further said: “At the time in which the Government of the Republic of South Sudan is about to form a Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) on the coming 12th November 2019, the Government of the United Kingdom has come up with imprudent advice to its citizens against all travel to the Republic of South Sudan, under the pretext of insecurity, criminality in Juba and inter-communal violence, among others.
“As the whole world is following the events, the Government of the Republic of South Sudan is currently hosting peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Sudan and the opposition groups.
“It has also been frequently welcoming visits of Heads of State and Government, as they just left Juba recently without any single reported security incidence.
“The country subsequently welcomed during the last few days Ministerial Delegations from African Union and IGAD Member States, in addition to the visit of the United Nations Security Council Delegation which took place on Sunday, 20 October 2019, just to mention a few. This is clear evidence that Juba is now more secured and safe than any time before as well as other parts of South Sudan.
The government pointed to the “improvement of security and safety situation,” as sign of its commitment to the revitalized peace agreement it signed with opposition groups in September 2018 in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
“This obvious improvement in security and safety situation came as a result of full commitment of the Government of the Republic of South Sudan to implement the Revitalized Peace Agreement signed in September 2018, with the support of the regional and international community, including TROIKA [to which the UK is a member],” it said.
