First Deputy Speaker of the National Parliament Oyet Nathaniel. (Photo: Courtesy).

The Minister of Information, Communication, Technology, and Postal Service has stated that the First Deputy Speaker of the RTNLA fled Juba to Uganda, while several other senior SPLM/A-IO officials have vanished to undisclosed locations within South Sudan after learning of an impending arrest.

In a press briefing on Friday, March 28, Government Spokesperson Michael Makuei revealed that several key SPLM/A-IO leaders had disappeared into unknown places in South Sudan.

Among those who disappeared were General Yey Dak from the national security, General Wilson Walebe from the SSPDF, and Minister of Water Pal Mai Deng.

Makuei explained that these individuals vanished after realizing their movements had been discovered.

The announcement came as part of a broader update on the situation regarding SPLM/A-IO officials and their whereabouts.

He disclosed that an unspecified number of SPLA-IO personnel, stationed at the Gut-Makur and Panyier unified forces training sites, are also unaccounted for.

Makuei continued, saying that the forces from Panyer, along with their trainers, also left the site without a clear destination.

“The SPLM-IO component at the training centers of Gut-Makur and Panyier, the forces withdrew to an unknown destination,” Makuei stated.

“There is a training center here, which was meant to be the training college where national security forces were stationed. These forces withdrew, and it is not known where they have gone.

“They don’t have arms but withdrew with some of the trainers. Some of the trainers, who were armed, withdrew with them to an unknown destination. But they are in South Sudan,” he added.

“The person from whom you have been receiving reports and who has been writing all the time, the First Deputy Speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, Nathaniel Oyet, has also disappeared. I understand that he’s in Uganda at present,” Makuei confirmed.

MAKUEI CLIP ON MISSING IO FORCES AND OFFICIALS

The disappearance of these officials has raised concerns about the stability of the peace process and the ongoing political situation in South Sudan.

However, Michael Makuei, the government spokesperson reassured the public that the 2018 revitalized peace agreement has not collapsed and it is still in place, despite First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar’s recent house arrest.