A former Northern Bahr el Ghazal state minister said he survived an attack by armed assailants Sunday in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
James Jok Lual, who previously served as the state’s minister of labor and public service and is now a senior member of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), told Radio Tamazuj that the attack occurred on Sunday around 4 p.m. in the Jingli neighborhood while he was speaking on the phone.
Lual explained that an armed man confronted him at gunpoint and ordered him to sit. He said he resisted by throwing his phone at the attacker’s face, creating an opportunity to escape.
“I was walking while talking on the phone when a man suddenly pointed a pistol at me and told me to sit,” Lual said. “I threw the phone at his face, and as he struggled, I ran.”
He said two other suspects joined the assailant before they stole his phone and fled on a motorcycle. Lual reported the incident to the Criminal Investigation Department in Juba’s Hai Cinema area the same day.
Ruot George, co-founder of the Nile Youth Development Action civil society group, linked rising crime in Juba to economic instability, saying unemployed youths are increasingly resorting to violence.
“The crime rate is increasing because the economy is deteriorating,” George said. “Many suspects are unemployed youths trying to provide for their families.”
George criticized the government for failing to protect the citizens in Juba, noting that state officials traveling to Juba often face attacks by armed youths.
Police spokesperson Maj. Gen. James Monday Enocka could not be reached for comment.
The attack follows a similar incident last week in which the suspended commissioner of Lakes State’s Cueibet County, Daniel Deng Mario Deng, and his family survived a home attack in Juba’s Sherikat neighborhood after an exchange of gunfire.