Ex-rebel officer links Malong, Bol Mel to fresh threats in Juba

JUBA — A former rebel spokesman who defected from General Paul Malong’s camp said on Sunday he survived a targeted confrontation in South Sudan’s capital, accusing his former commander and former vice-president of orchestrating the threat.

Colonel Philip Deng Kuol, who served as the military spokesman for the South Sudan United Front (SSUF) before abandoning the group, said he was accosted by an unidentified man near his residence in Juba on Saturday evening.

Kuol described the incident as an attempt on his life, alleging the assailant approached him aggressively at a local shop, grabbed his glasses, and threatened to “deal with” him before security forces intervened.

“I noticed this guy seems to have an intention towards me,” Kuol told Sudans Post in a statement.

He credited his safety to nearby officers from the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) and National Security Service (NSS).

The colonel explicitly linked the encounter to his former leadership, claiming without providing evidence that it was coordinated by General Malong and associates of tycoon Bol Mel.

“I deadly suspect Malong’s phone coordination and Bol Mel’s agents,” Kuol said.

Kuol defected to the government in June 2023 following an attempt by a faction of officers led by General Dickson Gatluak, who was SSUF’s deputy chief of staff for administration and finance, to remove Malong from the leadership of the rebel group.

Despite his return to Juba, Kuol has not yet been formally integrated into the national army and said the incident has forced him to restrict his movements.

“From today onward… I will stay put where I live,” he said.

Representatives for Malong and Bol Mel were not immediately available for comment.

The two men are central figures in South Sudan’s power struggle that observers say has often been exploited to appease President Salva Kiir, effectively branding the region’s population as enemies of the presidency.