S. Sudan President Reconciles With Former Army Chief

WASHINGTON / JUBA —
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his former army chief of staff apparently have reconciled, a week after a tense standoff in Juba threatened to escalate into violence.

The reconciliation happened Thursday at a prayer service at the president’s residence in Juba. Pictures surfaced on the internet showing Paul Malong hugging Kiir.

The coziness seems a world away from events last week in Juba, when tanks and dozens of government troops surrounded Malong’s house after he refused to release a platoon of soldiers guarding him.

Malong had been under house arrest at his residence since May, after a string of resignations by military officials who alleged there was ethnic bias in the army, and that soldiers were committing war crimes in the context of South Sudan’s civil war.

Praise from U.N. representative

Earlier on Thursday, the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative in South Sudan, David Shearer, praised the Kiir administration for peacefully resolving the weeklong standoff with Malong.

The tanks and troops were withdrawn Saturday after Malong agreed to release 26 of his 30 bodyguards. Shearer said the move calmed tensions.

Shearer told reporters at a U.N. base in Juba that it’s important for South Sudanese to resolve their conflicts internally.

“This conclusion came down simply to the choice of putting South Sudan and stability in Juba before all other concerns. We are grateful for the statesmanlike way in which the situation was resolved,” said Shearer.
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