Troops remained deployed around the home of South Sudan's powerful former army chief Paul Malong on Sunday in a dispute over the fate of his 30 bodyguards, an army spokesman told AFP. The standoff began on Friday evening when more than 100 soldiers surrounded his residence in central Juba, South Sudan's capital, in a move which prompted people to flee to their homes for fear the standoff would erupt into clashes. Malong is a hardline ethnic nationalist whose dismissal in May by President Salva Kiir had sparked fears of a major clash between supporters and troops loyal to the president, though that never materialised.
But by Sunday morning, after a tense but uneventful 36 hours, people could be seen venturing out for early-morning prayers even though troops remained in the streets around his home in the central Hai Amarat neighbourhood, an AFP correspondent said. Army spokesman Brigadier General Lul Ruai said the soldiers were in place because of a "small misunderstanding" with Malong, who had failed to comply with an order given to him on Friday that he release most of his government-appointed bodyguards to return to their former duties. "That notification did not go down well with him, he didn't comply with the order, and as a result we establish a limited presence of security personnel around his residence to ensure that elements do not take advantage of the misunderstanding," he told AFP.
"So we are there for a limited period and once an amicable solution is reached, this limited security force deployed around him will be removed," Ruai said, indicating that government officials were negotiating with him to ensure the situation was "resolved peacefully". Since Malong was no longer chief of staff, he no longer required such a large contingent of bodyguards, Ruai said, indicating that he had been allowed to retain just three of them.
The request was made just four days after Kiir signed an order, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, authorising the arrest and disarming of Malong's bodyguards and the removal of any other arms in his possession.