EXCLUSIVE: Ex-army chief Gen. Jok Riak under house arrest
South Sudan’s former chief of defense forces General Gabriel Jok Riak (Photo credit: Supplied)
June 10, 2020 (SSNN) – South Sudan’s former army chief General Gabriel Jok Riak has reportedly been put under house arrest in connection with last week’s Sherikat incident in which a relative of President Salva Kiir Mayardit killed at least five innocent civilians, a senior national security officer has said.
“The former Chief of Defense Forces General Gabriel Jok has been put under house arrested. National Security Service personal has been deployed to his house and he is being prevented from moving out of his home,” the source said on condition of anonymity from Juba.
The official explained to South Sudan News Now that General Jok was being detained at his residence in connection to the last week’s killing of at least five civilians over a land dispute by President Salva Kiir’s cousin in Sherikat, a Juba suburb located in Gumbo.
He said Jok has been intercepted speaking to some protesters portraying the killing as a plan by the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit to eliminate the sons and daughters of the Greater Bor from the capital.
“The reasons for his arrest are more. One of them is that he has been inciting violence between the people of Bor and Bahr el-Ghazal,” the officer said.
Last week, Lual Marine, a cousin of President Salva Kiir Mayardit opened fire on a group of family members from Bor killing five. Later on, a Presidential Guards captain was killed by Lual’s relatives after Lual died from injuries he incurred during a prior standoff with protesters.
However, General Jok’s involvement in the incident was not immediately available to South Sudan News Now. Several phone calls to Jok were not answered.
Jok is a South Sudan army general who served as the deputy chief of defense forces until he took over in May 2018 as the chief of defense forces.
He was removed from his position in May 2020.
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