President Salva Kiir on April 27, 2017 cancelled a meeting at the army general while he was en-route to the SPLA headquarters and returned to the presidency after he was advised by the security not to attend, multiple sources told Sudan Tribune that day.
It was not clear why the president changed his mind mid-way to the military headquarters, sparking debates among government and opposition supporters.
Kiir’s decision was linked to the tension between the ex-Chief of General Staff and the Director General of the Internal Bureau of the Security Service, Akol Koor Kuc, both of whom had presidential eyes.
Gen. Malong’s sacking was based on the bickering him and Gen. Koor had since both were struggling for the attention of the president. As this bickering intensified crude and underhand methods were used like fake intelligence and hence Gen. Malong was outfoxed and lost the favour the head of state and this meant he was out of touch with the president.
However, on April 21, 2022 South Sudan President Salva Kiir realized he could have wrongly sacked Gen. Malong based on wrong intelligence and has since called for reconciliation between the country’s spy chief, Akol Koor Kuc and the former Army Chief of Staff, Paul Malong Awan, a presidential aide disclosed.
Koor is currently the Director-General of South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS).
“We were on our way to Bilpam but returned mid-way because the president was advised by the security to not go to the SPLA general headquarters. I don’t know the reason and I have asked nobody. The president was talking on the telephone and the driver turned the vehicle when he finished talking,” said a presidential aide who asked not to be named.
“Talks between the government and holdout groups are due to resume in the coming period. But the challenge which we are seeing is that Paul Malong and General Akol Koor Kuc, the director-general for the internal bureau of our national security services need to reconcile. His Excellency the president has indicated this to general Akol on numerous occasions and this prompted him to reach out to General Paul Malong himself to initiate reconciliation before talks resumed,” the presidential aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday.
Koor fell out with the former army chief of staff, resulting in the removal of the former amid allegations that he was plotting to remove Kiir from power.
Several efforts to pursue Malong to return to the country from exile have been fruitless after he proposed a negotiated arrangement for his return.
Paul Malong Awan Anei had been the South Sudanese chief of the army since April 2014 before President Kiir fired him on May 9, 2017.
Malong decided to travel to his home in Aweil. However, he was stopped in Yirol and asked to return to Juba. He was later put under the house arrest and the military surrounded his home. An intervention by the elders got President Kiir to allow Malong to seek medical help in Kenya.
“I was told to go to Kenya and promised the money for treatment, and none of that came. When President Kiir visited Kenya, the meeting was initiated by the ambassador for me to meet President Kiir. I was able to ask President Kiir about the reasons my money was delayed… and my passport. But there was no good answer. After our meeting, the ambassador who initiated the meeting between Kiir and me was humiliated and fired,” he said.
Malong is one of the people who was known to be a friend of President Kiir. However, that relationship deteriorated after he was fired. Malong said he tried to make peace, but there is no scope for such things on the side of President Kiir. He also accused people around President Kiir of having malicious intentions.
“I have never had the intentions to fight anyone. I wanted us to work together to find the roots or how things went wrong? I was released to go to Kenya on medical grounds, but I was stripped of my passport… I was given a document to travel in the region.”
As opposition and rebel outfits gear up for Nairobi Peace Initiative, there are concerns that the unseen hand of Gen. Koor could be employed to disorganize the process as it is alleged that the success of peace in South Sudan would mean that some powers that be and close the head of state could lose their influential positions and among them is Gen. Akol Koor whose fear is that the return of Gen. Malong means his fall. Sources allege that Gen. Akol Koor can only remain relevant in the absence of Gen. Malong.
