But a day later, Gatdet told Capital FM News that Machar had not carried any gun to the palace and had no intentions of assassinating or plotting a coup.
READ: Machar denies carrying gun to Juba presidential palace
He said Kiir’s attempt to kill him on July 8 were foiled because the two leaders would have died if their armies exchanged fire inside the palace.
Gatdet claimed that the plans of his death also failed because he did not leave the palace as expected until the fighting subsided.
“They knew if they fought inside the palace the two leaders would have been killed.”
After the fighting outside the Palace, Gatdet explained that Kiir’s army followed Machar and bombed his home but luckily he was not in at the time.
About Machar’s replacement with Taban Deng Gai, Gatdet accused Kiir of violating Article 6 (5) of the Peace Agreement which stipulates that in the temporal absence of the Vice President, the Vice President should appoint a top official to act on his behalf.
In his view Kiir conspired with Deng Gai when he appointed him in efforts to lockout Machar to ensure he interfered with the implementation of the peace agreement.
“President Kiir doesn’t want Machar as his deputy because Machar wants the peace agreement implemented in full which Kiir doesn’t want that. He made a conspiracy with Deng Gai so that they could dismantle the provisions of the peace agreement that they do not like,” he explained.
According to Gatdet, since the fighting erupted on July 8, Juba had not found peace.
He regretted that despite regional and international efforts to restore peace in South Sudan the country had gone back to previous path of war.
“Fighting has continued from July 8. People are being killed and women are being raped. The last three weeks, there has been fighting in the bushes around Juba.”
According to him, the situation could get worse without immediate intervention of a third party.
Kenya which has been spearheading the peace process in South Sudan is expected to host US Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss top on the agenda regional peace with special focus on South Sudan.
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