South Sudan: Minister forced out of meeting over bow tie

JUBA, South Sudan – A South Sudanese government minister says the president ordered him to leave a Cabinet meeting of the new coalition government for wearing a bow tie.

Minister for Water Resources Mabior Garang de Mabior said on Facebook Friday that he went home and put on a necktie but soldiers prevented him from re-entering the meeting.

Mabior is also the spokesman for the country’s armed opposition which last week formed a coalition government with President Salva Kiir in a bid to end two and a half years of civil war.

Mabior has a reputation for being a dapper dresser. Kiir himself is known for frequently wearing a cowboy hat.

Presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told the Associated Press that Mabior was was told to observe a dress code which forbids bow ties.

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