A written statement attributed to Gen. Paul Malong suggests he requested President Salva Kiir to allow him to return to the country. The statement is fake and Malong’s spokesperson denied the information in the statement.

The statement posted to Facebook on October 14 has been shared widely.

 The text partly reads: “Your Excellency, I heartedly apologize to you as a brother who is also my leader since the SPLM/A days for all the hurtful words, actions, and disrespectful of any form that we directed at you as a person and your leadership either by me or my aides, friends and family and I accept that all were my making and please forgive me for being irresponsible and offer me another chance to prove myself as your worthy brother and a friend.”

The text further reads: “By expressing this, I am calling upon you for my return to the country. I have realized that I was wrong in all the matters that led to conflict between you and I, and I cannot allow anger to take me away completely from the path of our great brotherhood.”

In April 2018, former Army Chief of General Staff Gen. Paul Malong formed a rebel movement calling itself South Sudan United Front/Army (SSUF/A).

The Community of Sant’ Egidio, based in Rome, initiated talks in 2020 to incorporate the holdout opposition groups into the September 2018 peace agreement, but progress has been slow.
In March 2021, Real SPLM led by Pagan Amum and Gen Malong’s South Sudan United Front (SSUF) recommitted themselves to a “Cessation of Hostilities Agreement” signed on December 21, 2017.

Gen. Paul Malong Awan and Pagan Amum are both leading a faction of the rebel umbrella South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA).

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Friday, Malong’s spokesperson David Deng Chapath said Thursday’s statement appearing in Gen. Paul Malong’s name was not genuine.

“The statement is fake. We are committed to the peace talks mediated by the Community of Sant’ Egidio, so we are for the talks.”

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By: Radio Tamazuj