The South Sudanese military has debunked rumours of a coup attempt against President Salva Kiir, who is on an official trip to Saudi Arabia.
Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang, the official spokesman of the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF), spoke to Radio Tamazuj on Saturday afternoon after a security meeting to respond to these allegations.
These allegations surfaced on social media last night, suggesting an orchestrated effort by several National Security Services (NSS) officers to remove the 72-year-old leader from power.
President Kiir has ruled the oil-rich nation since its independence from neighbouring Sudan in July 2011. Before independence, he was the president of the semi-autonomous region of southern Sudan and the first vice president of Sudan.
Although the general security situation was normal in the capital Juba, security forces could be seen early morning deployed around checkpoints, Juba Airport and the president’s residence, causing tensions among residents of Juba.
Lul described the reports of a coup attempt as unfounded allegations.
“Those who came up with claims of an attempted coup in Juba are terrible liars, and those are enemies of peace who want to cause panic among the population. If there had been an attempted coup, things could not have become normal like they are now in Juba. Who are the coup plotters, if I may ask them?” Lul said.
“Things are now normal in Juba and this is not how things work after an attempt coup. I want to reassure the public that those are lies. The correct version of the story is that we have observed an increased cases of robberies at night. So what we did was a show of force to stop criminals from committing crimes in different residential areas,” he added.
When asked about the number of security forces deployed in Juba yesterday, Lul said: “We normally deploy forces in the evening to roundabouts and checkpoints in Juba. Sometimes, those forces inspect cars and those who carry guns and illicit drugs. So it is a normal thing. What happened yesterday is that we increased the number of the security forces.”
He added,” You know, after the government increased the salaries of civil servants and the organized forces, criminal activities have increased significantly, and there are many robbers who terrorize people at night; that’s why we deployed more troops yesterday as a show of force. I want to say again that things are normal and people are moving normally in Juba.”