South Sudan’s sacked army chief Paul Malong returned to the capital Juba on Saturday, saying he had no intention of staging a revolt against President Salva Kiir’s government.
Kiir dismissed General Malong on Tuesday without issuing any reasons behind his decision. Malong then left the capital in a convoy of vehicles and headed to his home state of Aweil in the northwest, raising speculation over his next move.
The sacked general has been leading President Kiir’s campaign against rebels in the war-torn country.
On Friday, Kiir said Malong was in a “fighting mood” and had not obeyed orders to return, raising the prospect of further turmoil more than three years into an ethnically-charged civil war.
“I was asked to come back and I have come back to listen why I am needed here,” Reuters quotes Malong upon his arrival in Juba.
“If I wanted to rebel, I would have rebelled here (in Juba). I had guns here and these solders do not belong to anybody. If I was about to fight, I would have fought here,” he said, adding that he will seek permission to return to his home state.
South Sudan has been in turmoil since December 2013 following President Kiir’s allegations that his then-deputy Riek Machar was plotting a coup against his government. Machar denied the allegations but went on to mobilize a rebel force to fight the government.
The United Nations earlier this year warned that the country risked sliding into genocide if the war continued.
The world body ranks South Sudan as Africa’s biggest refugee crisis, and third in the world after Syria and Afghanistan.
