Mr. Lual, a former special presidential envoy on Pibor affairs, was arrested in Juba in early August, while Ayii suffered a similar fate within the same period, allegedly picked up by the National Security Service agents.
In the letter dated 13th August 2025, Ateny—who also served as a member of the National Constitutional Review Commission from 2011 to 2020—described his appeal as “extraordinary,” noting that he no longer has direct access to Kiir despite having worked closely with him for nine years.
“I would wish to have given you my request personally, if I still had access to your Excellency. However, for three years and eight days now, I only see you on TV,” Ateny wrote, adding that his appeal was grounded in principles of justice and the need to protect the President’s legacy.
Ateny urged Mr. Kiir to reconsider the detention of the two men, arguing that they had played significant roles in the liberation struggle and in the country’s business sector.
He described Lual as a longtime loyalist who once served as Kiir’s bodyguard and later undertook risky peace missions on behalf of the government.
Ateny also recounted Akot’s 2014 mission to negotiate with former rebel leader David Yau Yau, saying the general “risked his life in an attempt to prevent Yau Yau joining hands with Dr. Riek Machar to cause havoc to your embattled and fragile forces then.”
Turning to Ayii, Ateny praised him as one of South Sudan’s top businessmen and a key player in the oil and energy sector. He noted that Ayii’s Trinity Group of companies—which includes Trinity Energy, M-Gurush mobile money, and the Wau Power Plant—employs more than 9,000 people across the country.
“Arresting Akol E. Ayii for even a minute is not helpful to his business at all,” Ateny said, warning that his continued detention could disrupt vital services and affect thousands of families who depend on his enterprises.
He further argued that disputes over debts or financial obligations should be resolved through arbitration or courts rather than detention, stressing that “a businessman is not good to be arrested, but taken for business arbitration and compelled to pay the money.”
The former presidential spokesman cautioned that the arrests risk undermining the principle of due process and could tarnish Kiir’s record as a reconciliatory leader.
“The President must come at last in every decision. While Your Excellency’s legacy matters most for someone like me, I further urge you to set the two gentlemen free,” Ateny concluded.
The government has not publicly commented on Ateny’s letter or the circumstances surrounding the detention of the duo.
Why then some youth threaten government,
Who said that busines man is not arrested? Who is above the law? Ateny is talking as if he is given something sweat.
If it is not always by law, then president can too lost lagacy for house arrest of Dr. Riak and others.