Africa-Press – South-Sudan. Dr Peter Biar Ajak was arrested over illegal arms trade in US. [Photo: courtesy]
On January 2, 2020, President Salva Kiir Mayardit issued a decree pardoning Dr. Peter Biar Ajak among the other dozens of prisoners who benefited from the executive orders.
Biar would then be released from prison on January 4, 2020, to begin his next phase of life like any other citizen.
But his appetite for courting political controversy would never let him rest. He came up with the “Sun Rise and Sun Set Generation” mantra, within which he advocated for generational change and accused the current regime of unverified crimes.
The scholar-activist argued that the “sun-set generation,” implying the pioneer leaders, were to give room to the “sun-rise generation”—youthful ones— to lead. But his agenda hit a roadblock of criticism from some South Sudanese, who argued that there was no way that a generation would leave power at once.
From camping at social media spaces to frequenting television stations to give commentaries on South Sudan, some of which later came to haunt him: Biar tried to curve a niche as a political saviour. But this was not to be.
In May 2023, Dr. Peter Biar Ajak was forced to eat a humble pie and apologise to President Salva Kiir over the comments he made against the head of state in 2022.
It was when the Head of State flew to Kenya to attend the burial of the former President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, and due to his health challenges, he had tasked the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Dr Elia Lomuro, to read his speech, which the latter did.
But Biar would then surface on one of the Kenyan TV stations with outrageous comments, trying to explain why President Kiir did not address the mourners.
His utterances nearly spoiled the diplomatic relations between Kenya and South Sudan, and it took the formal apology of the Kenyan embassy in South Sudan and KTN to calm things up.
Dr Biar would pen a long statement to apologise to President Kiir for disrespecting him as a person and subjecting the highest office in the land to shame. In his words, Biar acknowledged that he had acted in contravention of the customary morals of the Dinka ethnic tribe by respecting his elder the president.
But his acceptance of errors was short-lived. He then rekindled the flame of controversy after forming his Revive South Sudan Party (RSSP), which he announced would be his political venue in the upcoming elections.
But he made things worse for himself afterwards, perhaps burying his hopes of returning home.
In February 2024, he initiated the discourse around the mysterious unpublished book titled “A Bloody Nile”—alleged to be attacking the South Sudanese leadership, including President Kiir.
This forced the Presidential Press Secretary Lily Adhieu to issue a detailed rebuttal to the allegations that the government had bought its copyright to prevent its publishing.
“The Office of the President has learned with shock and dismay that one Peter Biar Ajak has been using the contents of an unpublished book, A Bloody Nile, to launch a barrage of insults against H.E. President Salva Kiir on social media,” she noted.
“Therefore, even though none of the above happened, the manuscript is nothing but mere propaganda designed by the enemies of the state to destroy the reputation of the President,” the statement added.
Sunk further
Barely a month later, the news came up of Dr Biar being arrested and being charged in the US for attempting to smuggle weapons worth $4 million to his country, a situation that US media states could potentially harm his profile as an activist.
According to the US media sources, Biar and Abraham Chol Keech—all South Sudanese—were charged with trying to “export arms illegally for a coup back home.”
The United States Department of Justice announced that charge was a conspiracy to export illicit arms to South Sudan, which is under a United Nations arms embargo.
The weapons that were considered included automatic rifles like AK-47s, grenade launchers, Stinger missile systems, hand grenades, sniper rifles, ammunition, and other export-controlled arms.
Meanwhile, according to the statement seen by The City Review, the leadership of the Revive South Sudan Party (RSSP) acknowledged the arrest but portrayed it as temporary, intended to facilitate an ongoing investigation.
“The leadership of the Revive South Sudan Party (RSSP) would like to inform its members as well as the general public that we have just received confirmed reports that our comrade, Dr. Peter Biar Ajak, has been put under temporary arrest after unconfirmed allegations levelled against him,” the statement read.
However, the arrest of the activist could wrap up the grace-to-grass story of a man who has always accused some generals in South Sudan of being warmongers and corrupt.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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