S. Sudan gov't denies plot to assassinate exiled Machar

JUBA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan government on Friday denied plotting to assassinate exiled former first Vice President Riek Machar after the SPLA-in opposition (SPLA-IO) said their leader's life is under threat in South Africa.

President Salva Kiir's spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny, said they allowed Machar to leave Juba safely in the wake of the renewed violence in 2016, and therefore it was worthless to attempt assassination against the rebel leader on foreign soil.

"That's rubbish. Nobody is planning to kill anybody outside South Sudan. The President allowed him (Machar) to go last time when he was in State House, why should he then want to kill him," Ateny told Xinhua in Juba.

He added that the war-torn country already has enough challenges that require tackling rather than prioritizing eliminating a dissident.

This came after the SPLA-IO deputy spokesman Lam Paul Gabriel, said that the government had hired South African hit men to bump off the rebel leader, and urged regional leaders and South Africa to protect Machar.

"The SPLA-IO is disturbed by yet another assassination attempt plan in the making and developing against our chairman and commander in chief Machar by the Juba regime this time on a foreign soil," Gabriel said in a statement.

The east African bloc IGAD launched in June the High-Level peace revitalization forum with the much touted upcoming round of talks seen as the last hope for peace yet to take off.

South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 after political dispute between President Kiir and his former deputy turned rebel chief Riek Machar led to split within the SPLA, leaving soldiers to fight alongside ethnic lines.

The 2015 peace agreement to end the conflict was weakened after outbreak of renewed fighting in July 2016, causing the SPLA-in opposition rebel leader Machar to flee the capital. Enditem