Opposition leader flees South Sudan

Spokesman of South Sudan’s former vice president and opposition leader has revealed that his boss Riek Machar has fled the country in a bid to escape government forces who are on his trail.

James Gatdet Dak said Machar who is being hunted after he withdrew from the capital of Juba following fierce fighting which claimed scores of lives about five weeks ago has fled to a neighbouring country but he did not state where.

According to Gatdek, the former vice president left South Sudan in a bid to ensure he had better access to the media to explain his own side of the story publicly without any intimidation.

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Machar had sustained a leg injury from weeks of walking in the bush but not serious enough to require medical attention, he told Reuters. Gatdet Dak, who is based in Nairobi, said Machar was not in Kenya.

“President Salva Kiir’s forces have been hunting him, so for his safety he decided to relocate,” Gatdet Dak said, adding his new location would give him “access to the rest of the world and media” to explain his position.

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