By Spy Uganda
The former President of Uganda Idi Amin Dada is considered among the world’s most brutal dictators and is said to have killed around 300,000 people during his era. But the highest percentage of all these people is said to have been killed by a ‘butchering machine’ called Isaac Maliyamungu aka Isaac Lugonzo.
As a result of the above, Maliyamungu has since turned into a title/rank for those who find it easy to kill their fellows so that they can keep their governments unshaken and continue pushing their selfish financial interests on top of the suffering of their brothers and sisters.
Now, that is the situation said to be in South Sudan, where a small group of greedy generals are accused of amassing a lot of wealth, thanks to the ongoing conflicts that have seen citizens of this country flee for their lives in neighbouring countries including Uganda.
Among these Generals who are said to be fighting tooth and nail to fail several peace initiatives in S.Sudan so that they can continue looting this youngest country include; Spy Chief Gen Akol Koor Kuc. It is alleged that his hands press buttons in places where money flows. His compatriots say he was a low-ranking soldier in 2008. Kiir promoted him in a series of elevations, trusting him like just Amin highly trusted Maliyamungu. Since his swift promotion, reports of torture and killings by South Sudan’s security forces have been on a sharp rise, hence thwarting peace in this country.
Other bloodthirsty ‘vampires’ said to be perpetuating the conflict to maintain their influence and financial interests are; Security Advisor NCP Tut Gatluak Manimne, and Dr Martin Elia Lumoro, to mention but a few.
In, fact, in 2020, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in Opposition (SPLM-IO) under Riek Machar called the International Criminal Court to prosecute torturers even though the country is not a member. Then, it is alleged that Koor and his men were top of the list of those the Opposition wanted to be prosecuted.
“The SPLM-IO calls on the UN Security Council to refer the matter to the ICC to prosecute those involved in this crime. We are also taking the matter to the Court of Justice of the African Union,” Machar said, inadvertently referring to the African Court of Justice and Human Rights.
In the same year, the UN Panel of Experts on South Sudan released its final report in which it said unchecked powers of the National Security Service meant provisions of the Revitalized Agreement to Resolve the Conflict in South Sudan (RARCSS) was to be flouted.
The team coordinated by Michael Gibb of Global Witness, said South Sudan’s Internal Security Bureau, the feared arm of the NSS, authorised kidnappings and killings of SPLM-IO supporters then.
Aggrey Idri of SPLM-IO and Dong Samwel Luak, a rights lawyer fled to Nairobi in 2013 but vanished on January 23 and 24 2017, respectively. The UN report says they were executed three days after landing in Juba.
“Their deaths offer a sobering reflection of the challenges posed to the implementation of the peace agreement by the violent legacy of South Sudan’s conflicts while highlighting the increasingly unchecked discretionary power of the NSS,” the report says.
“The NSS…is emerging as one of the most major obstacles to the implementation of the agreement.”
Some diplomatic sources say the bureau’s powers rose around 2014, just as the war began and a feeling to protect Kiir’s presidency became apparent. With loyalty to Kiir and not the government or law, the Akol Koor Kuc-led bureau was able to recruit militia, supply arms to them and disobey the 2015 peace deal.
One cleric who served with him in the SPLN, but later fled the country, says he controls the most elite forces and influences militias that buttress security for Kiir.
He is essentially the man responsible for security arrangements in Juba, including those of senior government officials.
Kuc’s powers were first felt in 2017 when then Chief of General Staff Paul Malong demanded that he be dismissed, blaming him for his arrest. Malong would later form his rebel outfit; the South Sudan United Front.
In 2017, a Global Witness report said Kuc uses the state-owned oil company Nilepet to finance operations against his fellow S. Sudanese.
“NilePet, is almost entirely unregulated and has fallen under the direct control of Kiir and his inner circle,” the report said.
“This combination of capture and secrecy has allowed NSS to funnel millions in oil revenues to the brutal security services and militias with limited oversight and accountability.”
Keep logged on, more editions will flow in about these ruthless generals looting S.Sudan as their brothers and sisters are suffering in various scattered refugee camps.
