South Sudan civil rights activist Kuel Aguer Kuel. [Photo courtesy]JUBA – South Sudanese civil rights activist and former governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, Kuel Aguer Kuel, spoke exclusively to Sudans Post in an interview on Friday, his first with a newspaper since his release from detention in December 2022.
In the interview, Governor Kuel Aguer Kuel discusses the travel restrictions imposed on him, preventing medical treatment, and clarifies his location in Juba. He recounts poor detention conditions, noting that his health issues predate his arrest.
Governor Kuel refutes the legal justifications for the restrictions, emphasizing his acquittal. He criticizes the current electoral readiness, advocating for an interim government selected through regional conferences to address security and governance challenges, and urges international pressure for accountability and respect for human rights.
Below is the full-text interview with Governor Kuel Aguer Kuel.
Q1. Governor Kuel, thank you for speaking to Sudans Post. Your absence from the public view has caused concerns among the citizens. Can you please clarify your current location?
ANSWER: First of all, I would like to thank Sudans Post for having this opportunity with me. Regarding my place I am now in South Sudan, in Juba since my release from that time I have been in town for that long. I think it is one year and a month now since that time. So, I am around, I am in Juba.
Q2. There are suggestions that travel restrictions have been placed upon you, with some alleging that you were unwell, you were prevented from seeking medical treatment abroad. Can you address these speculations?
ANSWER: Yeah, it is true that I am restricted from traveling. Not just restricted, but my passport was confiscated at Juba International Airport. That was on the 19th of April, 2023, on my way to India because I was referred to India even before I was arrested and then during the time when I was in the prison I was also referred when I have one and half months sick, [and] in the hospital I was also referred, but because I was under detention I could not be allowed to travel.
But after I was acquitted from the court I prepared myself to go to India where I was prepared to go and seek medication because I have problem with my spine caught and something need to be done as a surgical work this is beside other diseases like diabetic and blood pressure and cholesterol and many other sicknesses. But upon the report to the airport, the National Security person confiscated my passport, and they did not tell me exactly why they are keeping my passport up to today. I have made attempts to get my passport back, but I did not succeed. So, it is not just a restriction, but my travel documents have been confiscated, and they are with National Security up to now.
Q3. Governor Kuel, you have indicated that you have a problem with your spinal cord. Was this problem pre-existing went to prison or it was something that you incurred while you were there?
ANSWER: No, this has been there. Actually in 1987 we had a problem with the government of Sudan when we were in the University of Juba. And the army stormed the university and then we were laid down on the basketball court and the army was walking on us during that time. So, I got my back problem from that time, but because I was still young, I couldn’t feel it. It comes and goes. But after the age has gone, this thing has come up again. So, it is not something I got in prison, but it’s something that I got a bit early in 1987.
Q4. Since you were released, have you faced any legal action from the government that might justify the travel restrictions?
ANSWER: Not really. I know that the Minister of Justice appealed against the decision of the court because the court said that there was no question to answer. Because after investigation for almost two months, from the 2nd of October up to the 2nd of December 2022 and after I responded to all the allegations that were leveled on me, the Special Court that was composed of three judges came to conclusion that there was no case to answer because I did not break any law, but I was exercising my citizenship right, my fundamental right of liberty, freedom and freedom of speech.
So, there was no law that I broke but still the Ministry of Justice made an appeal like any other case when somebody did not win the case they would like to pursue even if there is no base. But according to law if you are acquitted without any charges against you there will be no reason for you to be taken for any trial so what is happening is just a political prosecution, more than being a criminal case. It is a political prosecution that they want to limit my movement, they want to limit my… And even the president has wished, that if he would have arrested me and killed me, that would have been the better option.
Because at one time I met with him at the airport, and he greeted me and he said is “it because I don’t kill people that people are opposing me” and I told him “you cannot you cannot just arrest somebody and kill because you kill somebody whom you are fighting with but I’m not fighting with you and even though the president does not have power to arrest and kill and we have that encounter and then we parted our ways.
Q5. Was this encounter after you were released, or this was before you were arrested?
ANSWER: After I was released.
Q6. Okay, so he met you in the airport, at Juba airport and then told you that is it because…
ANSWER: We met at Juba Airport because we were receiving the body of General Mathok Gengdit from Thailand by then. So, I just went to receive the …. like any other person, to pay my respect to General Mathok Gengdit. And while we were waiting for him to leave, because he came and he was about to leave, so he was coming along the row that we were standing and then at the end of the row I was there. And he just started to attacking, by then.
Q7. Given these travel limitations because it is clear that your political rights have been limited, and given these travel limitations how does that affect your health? And do you have a message for the authorities?
ANSWER: Yeah, first of all it is a violation of my human rights. First, I have the right to movement. I have the right to move out of the country and return and that is article 27.2 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan allow the citizen to get out and return without restriction. So that is a violation of that article, and that article is part of liberty and fundamental freedoms in the Constitution. So, it is a restriction on my personal rights. Also, the same article, 27.1, gives a freedom for a citizen to travel wherever he wants to move within the country. Now, even me, to move within the country is limited.
I have to inform the authorities if I want to go anywhere besides Juba. So, it is actually a limitation on my freedom of movement, freedom of everything. So, it is not something easy and it affects because I should have gone for further investigation, medical investigation because when I was in prison I got terribly sick and I don’t know what was the cause of sickness because I’ve never been admitted in hospital in my lifetime.
So that was the first time I stayed in the hospital for more than a month. And it is actually my right to go and make further check because we don’t have good machine to check whatever sickness that has been in the body. Without any surgery I am now threatened to get paralyzed at any time on my side because the spine cord that has come out from the main cord is affecting the nerves that move from my leg to my hip so that is also threatening my life and my physical ability to be able to move around. So, it is actually life threatening. And it threatens me to be disabled at any time.
Q8. Governor Kuel, you have never had the opportunity to speak to the media since your release in December 2022. Can you walk us through the experience during the detention?
ANSWER: Of course, as you know, after we have made the release of our declaration of PCCA [People’s Coalition for Civil Action], I was in my house and then somebody called me and said, can we meet to discuss something? Upon my coming out from the house, I was actually arrested at the fuel station without a warrant of arrest. And I was taken straight to Blue House of National Security.
I spent there 11 days and then without any investigation, without any questioning in the national security, I was handed over to CID, to police. And then straight from there I was taken to [Juba] Central Prison. And I was kept there for 15 months without any investigation and then all my documents were taken to Sudan, like my computer, my telephone to be checked. So, the situation in the central prison is actually very bad. You know, a small room of about 6 by 5 [meters] accommodated over 20 people. This is where you sleep.
And I was not even within prison. We were at the corner where we are not allowed to mix with other prisoners in the prison. So, there was even restrictions inside the prison. And for the visit of the family, they are only allowed twice a week to see me, not all the time. What they usually do is to allow the food to be brought to me in the prison because I was not taking food because I have a special condition that I must have a certain type of food to eat.
So, my family was bringing me food from outside. I was not being given food from the prison, and sometimes they restrict my visit especially when the time of going to court arrived the Inspector General of Police, by then Majak Akech, restricted visits until I have to complain in the court that l am restricted, and it was the court who lifted the restriction of my visit after I have complained. So, the treatment was not that good, but the instructions were coming from outside.
They were not from the prison themselves. The instructions were coming from the Inspector General of Police, by then who was Majak Akech, who was authorized by the office of the president to oversee the case and he was the complainer actually. So, that was the situation I had in the prison.
Q9. There are different opinions around the upcoming elections. Some, including President Kiir and the SPLM party, are advocating the elections to take place in December, and others including Riek Machar and his SPLM-IO, think that the country is not ready for it. What is your informed perspective on this critical issue?
ANSWER: You know, the talking about elections is a joke as far as the general situation is concerned. At first election was supposed to be the end of implementation of Revitalized Agreement for Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. The conflict in the Republic of South Sudan has not been resolved because that was the main reason for agreement. It was to resolve the conflict. It is not a peace agreement as some people would like to say it. It is an agreement for resolution of a conflict and that agreement has never been implemented. It is only chapter one, the formation of a government.
That has been done, but even that government has not been fully formed. It is partially formed. Like, for example, the Commissions have not been formed. So, that is the first thing, that the agreement that was supposed to facilitate and create a conducive environment for election has not been done, has not been implemented. Second, the reconciliation and healing process, that was supposed to happen, has not been done.
Third, the constitutional reform, that was supposed to be done so that the judiciary is independent, has not been done. And beside all that, election is a practice of a democratic society. It is a democratic society that exercises elections. Now, are we democratic? SPLM-IG, since 2008 convention has never held any national convention in the middle. So, all the institutions that are there are not elected institutions. They are appointed institutions. Also, the [SPLM-IO) and the rest of other political organizations have never had the opportunity to mobilize, register and conduct conferences. So, but they have internal democracy.
How can an undemocratic institution go for democratic process? I think this is something that people need to know. The third thing is that SPLM-IG, SPLM-IO and SSOA are political military organizations. That is why you want to have these military unified forces. And since they are military political organizations, I have never seen a situation where a military organization goes for election. Because the military usually doesn’t accept any defeat. So, if a military organization is defeated by election then what next? What the military do is when it is defeated, it withdraws and then reattack. So, it is an invitation of war. People are going to go into war.
The fourth other element is about the permanent constitution on which basis are we going to hold elections. The election is supposed to be held based on the new permanent constitution of the Republic of South Sudan whereby people will decide the size of the government, the type of system that we are going to have, whether we are going to have a federal system or we are going to have a decentralized system and all these. These things, these issues have not been resolved yet. So, then, how many people are going to go for election? Because up to now, we don’t know ourselves.
Since 2010, when we had election, we were told that South Sudanese are around eight million, and we disputed this. Now that we have gone more than 14 years without census, how are we going to distribute the seats that the constituencies that we are going to have, how are we going to distribute them to the population so that our population is properly represented? This is another thing. The fifth thing is about the resources. Up to now the government cannot simply pay salaries of civil servants. Up to now, even the wounded heroes were looking for money for medical treatment and they were shot at two days ago at the Ministry of Finance because there is no money.
So, even if people say we go for elections, there are no resources for us to go for elections. The number six other thing is that there is no political and civic space for people to campaign and do political mobilization freely. Even the civil society have no political space for them to make civic education. What does election mean? Because as a nation, we have never had an election in our life. This is the first thing for us to do. What does it mean? It is not a question you vote for SPLM and vote for Kiir Mayardit. The people will have otherwise.
They will think to vote for whoever they want. And so long as there is no political and civic space for everybody to campaign, then what do you mean by fair, credible and transparent election. Because the situation is being controlled by one political organization that is SPLM-IG. So, all these put together and then the most important thing is the election commission itself. The election commission is not formed according to the law because the law says that the members of the National Election Commission are supposed to be independent, to be neutral, to be impartial and non-partisan and as a result they will be able to be independent in making decisions.
Now if you check the decree that was made by His Excellency the President of the Republic, all the members of the National Election Commission are representative of political organizations, particularly those who are parties to the agreement. So, is this election only for political organization or political and military organizations that are part of the revitalized agreement? Or is it for everybody?
So, these are the issues that are clear that what we are going to is not an election. It’s not fair, it’s not credible, it’s not a transparent election. But it is to legitimize the military rule to make it legitimate because it does not have any legitimacy. This is the intention of the current parties who are in the government. So, this is, in short, what I can say about this election. I think there are no elections. People of South Sudan have been deceived that you are going for elections. And even if you agree, okay, let us go, they will not go, because practically it will not happen.
Q10. Okay, Governor Kuel, as a former governor and a civil rights activist, you think that it the agreement has not addressed the concerns and the grievances of the people of South Sudan, which are outside the circle of elites in our country?
It has not. It has not addressed them, because the first thing is security. Now do we have security? In the rural areas where we are going to register people and vote. If you see what is happening between Apuk and Wau, Dinka community among themselves, if you see what is happening between the Aguok and Kuac, within Warrap itself, if you see what is happening between the Ngok Dinka and the Twic Dinka and they have now drawn in part of the Nuer from Mayom and then also the same situation within Tonj itself, Luaj and Lou and then there is a problem also between the Pakam Agar and Luaj, so the situation people are fighting and then you can see in Jonglrei, the Murle and the Dinka and the Nuer and the Dinka and the Nuer and Murle and all that confusion that is happening in that corridor.
How do you expect the election to take place in that confused insecurity environment? It can’t. The return is, you can register today here and tomorrow, because of insecurity you will turn up somewhere. Will we carry a ballot box to follow the displaced? Or what do we do? And the refugees? Because one of the conditions was to return the refugees and displaced to their original places. They are not. What are we going to do?
Q11: 7. If you can meet President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar today, what can you tell them?
I will tell them that you people let the people of South Sudan undertake an interim period. The interim period should be based on the following. First of all, there should be a presidency of which there should be three people, one from each region, and that person should be elected within the regional conference, like what happened in National Dialogue. And those three people will form what we call the head of state, and they should only have limited responsibilities, supremacy, foreign affairs, and then the defense.
This should be their responsibility. And then we need to have a cabinet of no more than 21 ministers. And they are also supposed to be elected in regional conferences like what happened in Wau and those, that happened in Juba or in Upper Nile. So that we have technocrats, we have people who are not representing anybody and each and every political party should go and organize itself and prepare itself for election. Any constituency that is going to be done should be like what happened during the CPA. Each region is supposed to come with representatives, at least 20 members from each state and then in the administrative area we are supposed to have 7 each.
So that we have 221 and that should be constituency assembly. That is supposed to help in management of the interim period and the interim period should be at least six years so that the army is organized, the national security is reintegrated, and we have stability and the refugees are returned and then those who are holding South Sudan hostage should get out of the system so that the people of South Sudan can now go for free, fair and credible election to choose their leaders, not leaders who are put on them and say you have to vote for this.
This is my opinion. People think that it is difficult, but it is not difficult. I would tell them please you have exhausted your chance during the revitalized agreement. Now let people of South Sudan to choose their own interim government so that they can make the situation stable, and they will be able to go for fair elections.
Q12: So, you basically support the calls for extension of the transition period?
ANSWER: Not extension, because extension means the same parties should continue in the government. No. I’m calling for an interim period where a completely new government has to be set up. Using regional and state conferences. It is not an election. Each and every region has to select people that are coming to the central government and based on those ones, this is the government that will be able to undertake the interim period.
The permanent constitution, the judiciary reform, the security reform, and all this, it has to be done by technical and independent government of South Sudan. Not extending these guys. Even if they stay for the next ten years, they will not be able to change anything.
Q13: Okay, you have suggested this type of government in which the representatives, the presidency is selected or is appointed by regional conferences. What if these regional conferences select the current leaders because as a matter of fact they have a base of support in these regions?
ANSWER: Absolutely they don’t have. But also, the condition for this is that those who are in the government should not participate. This is a condition, because this is an interim period and we should have completely new places to run this, to run the interim period.
Q14. What message do you wish to convey to the international community regarding the situation in South Sudan because we have seen government officials making statements, for example at one point the minister of foreign affairs said the Troika has never support any peace in the country. What do you say about this and what message do you have for the internal community?
ANSWER: I think the international community continues to pressure the parties to the agreement to do the right thing. Without doing the right thing, nothing should be given because we are not managing even the resources we have we are wasting them. We are wasting the little resources we have, and the international community money is tax payers’ money, and they cannot be put in this situation where we don’t have laws and we don’t have rules of laws in the country. If somebody takes government money, nobody has the capacity to make them accountable. You cannot give money to the government that is not accountable in the name of the people of South Sudan, no.
I don’t think the international community needs to facilitate this bad way of running the government. This is a bad governance and should not be supported in any case. They should be made to do the right thing. They have to respect human rights, they have to bring peace and stability in the country, they have to stop this communal fighting, because the government is not responsible enough to be supported. You cannot support the government so that they use the weapons, they use the ammunition that they have to sell them to the community to kill themselves.
This is not a government that should be supported by the international community. So, the international community is supposed to engage the people of South Sudan to make sure that they are doing the right thing. Without doing the right thing, nothing should be paid actually to them.
END: Governor Kuel, Aguirre Kuel, thank you for speaking to Sudan Post and we wish you well Governor Kuel, Aguer Kuel, thank you for speaking to Sudan Post and we wish you well in your pursuit of peace in South Sudan.
