Juba — Gunfire broke out Thursday at the home of South Sudan’s recently sacked intelligence chief, a military source said, with the UN branding it an attempted arrest.
Akol Koor had been under house arrest since his firing in October, according to local media reports, but remained a powerful figure after running the National Security Services since independence in 2011.
Shots rang out in the evening in Juba, the capital of the country that has suffered persistent political infighting and ethnic violence since breaking away from Sudan.
The fighting lasted about an hour, according to an AFP journalist.
A military source supposedly involved in the operation told the Sudans Post newspaper that Koor had been arrested after intense fighting that reportedly left dozens of his soldiers dead or wounded.
BREAKING | Heavy gunfire has just erupted in South Sudan’s capital Juba as security forces from the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) attempted to arrest former National Security Service chief, General Akol Koor Kuc.#SouthSudan #SSPDFhttps://t.co/ST3lSqTY9g
— Sudans Post (@SudansPost) November 21, 2024
In an alert to its staff on the ground, the UN reported a shooting linked to the former head of intelligence’s detention, advising people to take cover.
Yet it was unclear whether Koor had, in fact, been arrested.
Confirming the shootout, military spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said it involved “our own security forces that had been deployed there to provide extra security”.
“We do not know what had happened, and that misunderstanding degenerated in gunfire,” Koang said, adding that two servicemen were shot and wounded before the situation was contained.
Images circulating on social media and published by local news outlets showed traffic at a standstill near the former intelligence chief’s residence, with drivers having abandoned their vehicles in the wake of the gunfire.
Delayed elections
In October, South Sudan President Salva Kiir, dismissed the powerful intelligence services head without giving a reason.
The move came two weeks after the government again postponed by two years the first elections in the nation’s history.
South Sudan is one of the poorest countries on the planet despite large oil reserves and ranks 177 out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index.
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Source: AFP
Picture: X/@SilviodoQuental
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