South Sudan’s former spy chief, under house arrest, faces gunfire at home
Residents reported heavy gunfire erupting late Thursday in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, at the residence of Gen. Akol Koor, the country’s former spy chief, who has been under house arrest for the past two months.
Eyewitnesses recounted that soldiers clashed with Gen. Akol Koor’s security detail in Juba’s high-end neighborhood of Thongpiny for about an hour. Army spokesperson Lul Ruai Koang confirmed that two individuals were injured
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“There was a misunderstanding between the army and security forces deployed at the home,” he said and added that more details would be provided on Friday.
Koor has been under house arrest since early October, subsequent to his termination from the intelligence service. Moreover, he was designated as a state governor but was dismissed from that role prior to taking up his duties. He had been at the helm of the intelligence agency since 2011, when South Sudan attained independence from Sudan.
South Sudan remains unstable despite a 2018 peace agreement that concluded a five-year civil war in which more than 400,000 people perished. President Salva Kiir and his former opponent turned deputy Riek Machar have been tasked with implementing the peace agreement, with critics asserting that the implementation process has been overly prolonged.
The country had scheduled elections for December, but these were delayed by two years to ensure that fundamental components of the peace pact were fully actualized and to give the electoral agency sufficient time to complete voter registration.
