JUBA – A senior member of South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS) who was among five South Sudanese security officers sanctioned by the United States of America in 2019 over alleged links with the killing of human rights lawyer Dong Samuel Luak and SPLM-IO politician Aggrey Idri has changed his name.
Documents obtained by Sudans Post confirm that John Top Lam Tut changed his name to Kur Wilson Deng Kur in March 2022. While the name ‘Top Lam Tut’ is popular for Nuer ethnic group, the name ‘Kur Deng Kur’ is very much popular among the Dinka community.
In December 2019, the United States imposed sanctions on five South Sudanese officials – including Lam. It accused them of being responsible for the likely murders of two human rights activists in 2017.
The U.S. Treasury named Abud Stephen Thiongkol, Malual Dhal Muorwel, Michael Kuajien, John Top Lam and Angelo Kuot Garang as responsible for the disappearance and alleged killing of human rights lawyer Dong Samuel Luak and opposition politician Aggrey Idri in January 2017
“Although the Government of South Sudan has denied knowledge of their whereabouts, multiple sources have stated that Dong and Aggrey were extraterritorially kidnapped in Kenya by members of the South Sudanese security services,” the Treasury said in a statement late on Tuesday
It remains unclear why Lam changed his name, but several analysts have suggested that the National Security officer might have done so in an attempt to evade the US sanctions that prevent him to travel to the US and its allies.
