Kenya Deports S Sudan Rebel Leader’s Spokesman
Local Editor
Kenya deported the spokesman of South Sudan's rebel chief Riek Machar, officials said Friday, despite rebels' warning that forcibly returning him to the war-wracked country puts his life in danger.
Senior rebel official Nyarji Roman said James Gatdet Dak had been arrested at his Nairobi home Wednesday and taken to the airport 24 hours later.
He was sent back to the South Sudanese capital Juba where he was immediately detained, according to Roman, a spokesman for the rebel SPLM/A-IO.
Machar telephoned Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto in a bid to halt Gatdet's deportation on the grounds of "profound fear for his life" but the spokesman was sent back anyway, Roman said.
"The deportation of Mr. James Gatdet Dak is a violation of the Geneva Convention," Roman added, saying an intervention by the UN refugee agency had failed to prevent the move.
"Moreover, the Kenyan government is a guarantor to the peace agreement that was signed in August 2015 and we do not expect that it would put in danger the life of an innocent person."
A Kenyan official, on condition of anonymity, confirmed to AFP that Gatdet was deported, without elaborating.
South Sudan President Salva Kiir's spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny also confirmed that Gatdet was back in the country, refusing to comment further.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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