Gen. Akol Koor Kuc, former director-general of NSS, Internal Security Bureau (ISB). |File Photo|.
South Sudan President, Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, issued an unprecedented republican decree removing the long-serving, most feared Director-General of the National Security Service, Internal Security Bureau, Gen. Akol Koor Kuc, from his position and appointed him the governor of Warrap State.
In a republican decree read on the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation, President Kiir removed Gen. Akol Koor from the office he held for long and stated no reason for these unprecedented changes.
Before the reshuffle, Gen. Koor has been rumored to have rallied the National Security Service in a ploy to topple the long-serving president, Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, The Golden Times however, could not independently verify the claims.
In a separate decree, President Kiir appointed Akec Tong Aleu as the new boss of the National Security Service, Internal Security Bureau. Gen. Tong was the undersecretary of the Ministry of Defense and Veterans’ Affairs, and former governor of Warrap State.
South Sudan, a country plagued by years of civil wars and widespread human rights violations, the internal and external security bureau structures of the National Security Service—directly managed by the office of the president, are known for silencing and extrajudicial killing, kidnapping, forced disappearance, torture, and illegal detention of the government’s political critics, activists, and journalists.
The institution works to serve the interests of the ruling elites at the expense of the civil population. The country marred by rampant corruption is functioning on imposed security laws, commonly known as the National Security Service Act 2014, which emboldens security agencies to arrest, detain, and interrogate suspects without a warrant of arrest.
In 2014, the National Security Service bills were opposed in the parliament dominated by the ruling party just as in 2024 whereas a significant number of lawmakers, mostly from the main opposition group (SPLM-IO) voted against the bills, citing retaining the Sections 54 and 55 of the bills will do more harm on the public.
On Thursday, 3 October, at the state house, President Kiir officiated the swearing-in of Lt. Gen. Akec Tong Aleu in the presence of his closest inner circle, namely, Nhial Deng Nhial, the former foreign minister, Tut Gatluak, the presidential advisor on national security service, Defence Minister Chol Thon Balok, and the Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Santino Deng Wol among others.
President Kiir directed Gen. Tong to face off the potential criticisms laid ahead by individuals opposing the system and affirmed his readiness to make Gen. Tong’s work easy.
