Peter Biar and the family at Washington Dulles International Airport on Thursday July 23, 2020.

The Office of the President has described claims by activist Peter Biar Ajak that the government wanted him dead as “nonsense.”

In a recent tweeter post, Biar who is now in the United States alleges that a “death squad” was sent “either to abduct me from Kenya or murder me.”

He stated that while in Nairobi, he “was forced into hiding after receiving word several weeks ago from senior government officials in South Sudan.”

Biar thanked US President Donald Trump for what he described as “providing refuge to me, my wife, and our three young children.”

“Without you, I’d be dead,” Biar wrote.

“All that he said are complete rubbish,” said Ateny Wek Ateny, Press Secretary in the Office of the President.

The activist also thanked the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo and State Department’s officials in Washington, Nairobi and Juba for facilitating his refuge to the United States.

“How come he was found guilty in the court of law and was serving sentence in the prison -which is an institution of the government, and the president pardoned him to go free?” asked Ateny.

Biar together with philanthropist, late Kerbino Wol were pardoned by President Salva Kiir in January after spending several months in jail. 

The court in Juba had charged Biar with incitement and disturbing the peace. He was sentenced to 2 years for violating section 48/80, 2, b of the panel code of 2008.

But Kiir ordered for their release in a new year goodwill gesture.

They were among 30 inmates released from prisons across the country with effect from January 1, 2020. Some of the freed inmates are juveniles.

Peter Biar left Juba for Nairobi where he lived with his family until his departure.

This week, he travelled with wife and kids from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and arrived in Washington DC on Thursday.

While in the US, Biar called for the removal of President Salva Kiir through general elections and targeted sanctions.

In an opinion piece titled; “My Escape to America Shows the Price of Dissent in South Sudan” -published on 23 July 2020 by the Wall Street Journal, Biar described President Kiir as a dictator “working instead to build a powerful and repressive security apparatus with one mission—to keep him in power.”

The activist said the South Sudanese “are desperate to hold Mr. Kiir accountable for his failed leadership” through voting in leaders will “secure a just and lasting peace.”

He outlined three proposals that include; additional targeted sanctions against South Sudanese officials who have committed atrocities, amendment of the peacekeeping mission’s mandate to ensure voters’ safety during elections, and a road map to presidential elections that entails a new constitution, electoral laws and a new independent National Elections Commission.

“The tweet is attention-seeking. The activist is an attention seeker and..I think he is just shy of what he did,” Ateny Wek concluded.