![South Sudan presidential press secretary Ateny Wek Ateny speaking to reporters at J1 in 2015 [Photo via Getty Images]](https://i1.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/ateny_wek_ateny_16_0001_640_350_1.jpg)
The warning comes a week before anti-Kiir-Machar protesters headed by the People’s Coalition for Civil Action (PCCA) take to street to call for end to President Salva Kiir’s government accusing him and Machar of failing the people of South Sudan.
“If you are aware, President Salva Kiir – on one hand is the stabilizing factor – he’s a unifying factor. If he decides now, as I speak with you, to step aside, what will ensue afterward will be chaos in the country,” Ateny said in a pre-recorded interview with the RBC TV, a local YouTube channel that hosts interviews with senior government officials.
The presidency mouthpiece said those calling for protests against the government of President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar are not aware of the status of political dispensation among the people of South Sudan and said the departure of the two men would mean chaos and war.
“You know […] when I hear somebody talking about President Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar stepping side, I always feel pity for people who call for the two principals in the South Sudanese conflict to step aside, both of them. I always feel pity for them simply because someone who is calling on President Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar to step aside is somebody who is not aware of our dynamics and the political dispensation in the country,” Ateny said.
“So, when you talk about Riek Machar stepping aside or President Kiir stepping aside, then you are calling for war in the country. I’m not saying that the future of South Sudan is depending on them. They are human beings…okay? And the power of nature can even come in,” Ateny added.
He said the only political settlement that will lead South Sudan peace is the full implementation of the revitalized peace agreement after which the country is expected to hold elections which the presidency has said will take place in mid-2023, one year after the end of the transitional period.
“But I’m talking about the current political arrangement. The current political arrangement is that the interim period should elapse comes 2023 and six months before the elapse of the transitional period, there will have to be an election in the country,” he said.
“The people of South Sudan [after the transitional period] will be able, for the first time, to choose their leaders. But anyone asking for [regime] change before that period is actually asking for South Sudan to kill itself, he’s calling for a suicide,” he said.
![Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar (L) meets with Minister of Defence of South Sudan Angelina Jany Teny (R) within the International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF) 2021 in Istanbul, Turkey on August 17, 2021. [Photo by Arif Akdoğan/Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/thumbs_b_c_d27cf643e4786076e72943a306076200-1-120x86.jpg)
![South Sudan presidential advisor on security Tut Gatluak [left] smile with president Salva Kiir Mayardit [right] at Juba International Airport [Photo by SSBC]](https://i1.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/D7lqh0WWkAACS2W.jpg)
Press Secretary of President Kiir Mayardit Mr. Ateny Wek Ateny is not getting why South Sudanese people are calling on President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his vice President Riek Machar Teny to steps down.
First of all, the President himself admitted that, they have been spending 10 years and nothing have done. It has been 10 years in the office still, the security is not improving and the economic is not doing well and the conflict is continuing. During the National dialogue initiative conference in Juba, the South Sudanese people agreed that, the two leaders President Salva Kiir and his vice President Riek Machar should be asked to step down because if they continue leading then, there will be another war. Now you have SPLM I0 break up into two factions and you have communities are killing themselves and the government has not been able to stop killing on the other hand, there is insecurity on the road block. I think the two leaders should steps down if they loved Country and its people because all these killings and human suffering were made by them and South Sudanese people have all rights to protesting.
We have so many educated people in South Sudan and they should be giving a chances to try the leadership. it is not necessary that, the two leaders are stayed in years and doing nothing or terrible yet, warning people not to protested this is wrong. The situation is not improving why should allow them to continue adding more and more problems when we have many people educated to lead the country? I am for change and I support massive reforms from Local governments, State governments and Juba’s government.
Koch aguac