South Sudan Vice President Denies Being Stopped From Travelling to Kenya

South Sudan Vice President Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior has denied being stopped from travelling to Kenya on Monday afternoon, as widely claimed online.

This was after reports spread on social media on August 24 alleging that security personnel had blocked her at Juba International Airport just before her scheduled departure.

David Aleu Deng, acting executive director for Gender and Youth Affairs, sought to clear up the confusion during a conversation with reporters, explaining that the trip fell through because the required presidential authorization had not been granted in time for her to leave.

“The reports circulating on social media claiming that the Vice President went to the airport and was blocked from travelling are therefore incorrect,” Deng told Radio Tamazuj.

Nyandeng was expected to attend official engagements in Nairobi, including a public lecture at Murang’a University of Technology scheduled for August 25, just days before the university’s tenth graduation ceremony, which is planned for August 28 this year.

According to Deng, the Vice President’s office had formally submitted its travel request to the Office of the President on August 13.

He stressed that, as a senior government official, Nyandeng cannot legally travel outside the country without prior clearance from the Presidency, dismissing the claims that she had physically arrived at the airport only to be turned away as completely inaccurate.

“As a senior government official, the Vice President cannot travel internationally without the necessary authorisation and clearance from the Presidency,” Deng stated.

Adding, “So, and when she was supposed to travel, she did not go to the airport, but it was because the approval was not granted early enough, so she could not travel today.”

The development comes just days after Nyandeng made unusually pointed remarks about accountability within South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir’s government during a public event.

Speaking at the funeral of a veteran politician in Juba, Nyandeng asked, “Who’s watching over President Salva Kiir now? Nobody,” contrasting the current administration with the past leadership under her late husband, Dr. John Garang, in which senior figures provided active checks and counsel. 

President Kiir’s office hit back, defending his long-standing role in the liberation struggle as a collective undertaking and challenging critics to air grievances at the ballot box, rather than exploiting veterans’ hardships politically, by pointing to the December 2026 elections.