By Watchdog reporter
South Sudan president Salva Kiir has said his country “needs” him, and that his absence would bring about “disaster”.
Kiir told Kenyan television journalist Jeff Koinange that what he was interested in was peace, not, Machar, and promised to give his former First Vice President s battalion to protect him.
In an interview that will air on KTN’s Jeff Koinange Live show, Kiir says “There is no fighting in Juba.”
He admitted that he does not know where Machar, before adding, “If Riek returns, I will allow him to stay as a normal South Sudanese civilian.”
Kiir also said there was no need for international intervention since his government was in control of the situation.
* “There is no need for more international troops in Juba because there isn’t any fighting in Juba.” He said any foreign troops entering South Sudan uninvited was equivalent to trespass. He emphasized that foreign troops in his country would breed a civil war, which is not in South Sudan in the first place.
Thousands of refugees have poured from South Sudan to neighboring countries including Uganda.
The South Sudan president however said his country has been torn apart by power hungry people in his government, and not just Machar.
“It is not only Dr Machar who’s power-hungry. Some are within”, he said.
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