Activist Peter Biar Ajak (File:SP)
San Francisco, February 6, 2026
Savanna Radio Breaking News…
Two men have been sentenced to prison in the United States for conspiring to illegally export military‑grade weapons and ammunition to South Sudan, in a case that has sent shockwaves through South Sudanese political and activist circles. According to U.S. Justice Department documents, South Sudanese activist and economist Peter Biar Ajak, 42, from Maryland, was sentenced this week after being found guilty of plotting to purchase and ship assault rifles, machine guns, and other weapons to South Sudan in violation of U.S. export control laws and international arms restrictions. “From a suburb of our Nation’s capital, Ajak conspired to export U.S. weaponry to South Sudan, where he planned to lead a coup and install himself in power,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg.
His co‑defendant, identified in court records as Abraham Chol Keech, 46, from Utah, received a separate prison sentence in December for his role in the same scheme, which prosecutors say involved efforts to procure large quantities of firearms using U.S. front companies and false paperwork. U.S. prosecutors told the court that the pair conspired over several years to move weapons to actors in South Sudan despite the country’s history of conflict and the risk that such arms could fuel further violence and human rights abuses. The sentencing comes amid renewed international concern over arms flows into South Sudan, where fragile peace arrangements remain under strain and new rounds of fighting have recently been reported in several states. “The defendants in this case sought to bypass U.S. export control laws, with Mr. Ajak directing a conspiracy that amassed a $4M arsenal of military-grade weapons intended to effect a coup d’état of South Sudan,” said U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine for the District of Arizona.
Peter Biar Ajak is a South Sudanese economist, peace activist, and former political prisoner who became one of the country’s most prominent pro‑democracy voices. Born in Bor in November 1983, he was one of the “Lost Boys” who fled the Second Sudanese Civil War as a child, passing through refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya before later studying in the United States and the United Kingdom. His outspoken criticism of President Salva Kiir’s government, including calls for a “generational exit” of the current leadership, led to his arrest in 2018 and prolonged detention until early 2020, after which he eventually fled an alleged assassination plot and resettled in the United States.
Savanna Radio will continue to follow reactions from Juba, South Sudan’s diaspora communities, and international rights groups to this high‑profile case.
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