BREAKING: Army General, activist shot dead in Malakal

MALAKAL – A South Sudan People’s Defense Force (SSPDF) general and an activist have been killed in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state capital Malakal on Wednesday, two police officers with direct knowledge have told Sudans Post.

According to one police officer who said he does not want to be identified, Brigadier General Arop Awkeo was shot dead along with an activist while returning home from Malakal market in the evening hours of Wednesday by unidentified gunmen.

“Brigadier General Arop Awkeo was shot dead while he was returning to his home in Malakal. He was killed along with another person that I don’t know, and the killers remains at large,” the police officer said from Malakal.

The other police source said he has been told that the other victim is activist Juliano Amrose who was also walking along to their home with the army officer, when the two were shot dead by the unidentified armed men.

“In the evening, General Arop and Juliano were going home from the market. It is yesterday and when they arrived near the Children Village near the Malakal stadium, Juliano was first shot, and when Arop tried to run, it didn’t work, and he was shot dead in the back and died instantly,” the police source said.

The police source expressed concerns over the deteriorating security situation in the  Upper Nile state capital as several people have been shot dead in Malakal town in the most recent past.

“This unfolding security situation in Upper Nile state is growing very high. This situation of unknown gunmen coming to Malakal is alarming and the situation is becoming very bad,” the police officer added.

Family sources have told Sudans Post that General Arop who was 54, was still service in the army’s Upper Nile state’s Sector One, while activist Juliano is said to have engaged in reconciling communities with refugees in Maban, and peaceful dialogue among communities in Kodok and Fashoda.

The murder of the two prominent figures comes barely three months after unidentified gunmen shot dead Dr. Lam Akol’s brother who was working as prosecutor-general of the Upper Nile state in Malakal.

The killers have not yet been identified and no investigation has however been done.