A South Sudanese journalist in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State is on the run after receiving threatening phone calls from the National Security Service (NSS) in Nothern Bahr el Ghazal State.

Ngor Deng, a reporter with the privately owned No. 1 Citizen newspaper, told Radio Tamazuj on Monday that he fled his home in Aweil town in the past two weeks, fearing arrest by security operatives.

Deng believes the state’s authorities were unhappy with his recent story on government employees’ salaries worth over 104 million South Sudanese Pounds that have allegedly gone missing in the state.

“The national security is looking for me, and as a result, I fled my home. On October 3, I reported a story about missing salaries for civil servants in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State. The salary arrears for May were approved by the Ministry of Finance in Juba, but the money was not paid out in the state,” Deng said.

He added, “When the story was published, I received threatening phone calls from the National Security Service on October 5. So, they asked me to go to their office, but I refused to go there.”

The journalist further said the state governor, Tong Akeen Ngor, was also unhappy with the content of the news article. “I also received phone calls from the office of the state governor. They told me that the governor had ordered his soldiers to hunt me down, so I have been on the run since 8 October,” Deng said.

The journalist appealed to the authorities to follow the correct procedures by taking him to a competent court of law if they believe he has committed a crime.

“What I want to tell the government is that there are laws in the country. If they think that someone has committed a crime, the better way is to follow the legal procedures by arraigning that person in court,” he said.

Reached by phone Monday, the newspaper’s management in Juba confirmed Ngor Deng had been in hiding after a news report about missing salaries for civil servants in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State.

“I can confirm that one of our correspondents in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State is facing a security threat because of a story about missing salaries for civil servants. I think the state government was not happy about the story, so the journalist had to leave his home in Aweil. When some security officers went to his home, they did not find him there,” one of the paper’s managers said.

He further said the management had informed the Union of Journalists of South Sudan  (UJOSS) and the Media Authority about the threat against Journalist Ngor Deng in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State.

Government officials in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State could not immediately be reached for comment.

Members of the press in the world’s youngest nation have suffered through years of a deteriorating media environment, including censorship, intimidation and violence. Government institutions frequently interfered in editorial matters and called journalists in for questioning. 

In April, Reporters Without Borders released the 2021 World Press Freedom Index. South Sudan ranked number 139 out of 180 countries, dropping one spot from last year’s ranking of 138.