The state yesterday said it is considering slapping tough sanctions on South Sudan opposition leader Riek Machar, amid fears of renewed fighting in Africa’s youngest nation.
The National Assembly Defence and Foreign Relations and the Security and National Administration committees warned that the government will bring a motion before Parliament to ban Machar and his allies from Kenya.
Committees’ chairmen Asman Kamama (Tiaty) and Ndung’u Gethenji (Tetu) said the motion will also seek to have South Sudan, which was recently admitted to the East African Community, expelled from the regional bloc.
They said Machar’s relatives, said to be living in Nairobi, should be deported back to Juba as part of the tough sanctions aimed at preventing Juba from sliding back to full-blown war.
The two key committees strongly condemned Machar’s comments calling for a return to war against President Salva Kiir’s government.
They termed the comments “unacceptable and inexcusable” and said they demonstrate the leader’s lack of concern for the people of South Sudan.
At the weekend after talks with allies in Khartoum, Machar, the country’s former first Vice President, ordered his forces to reorganise for “armed resistance” against the South Sudan government.
“We want Machar and his allies to go back to the negotiating table as an option to pursue and address his grievances. Taking the people of South Sudan back to the trenches must not be an option,” Kamama said in a press conference at Parliament Buildings.
The instability threatens Kenya’s economic interests amid an influx of refugees into the country, he said.
The bloodletting must end and Machar should be barred from accessing any East African country, Kamama added. The MP said Kenya has lost businesses where some banks, including KCB, Cooperative and Equity, have been burnt in Juba.
“Machar and his allies cannot live in comfort in Nairobi and their children go to good schools, while people continue to die in South Sudan,” he said.
Gethenji said Machar cannot be allowed to use any capital in the region as a launch pad for his atrocities in South Sudan against innocent citizens.
