CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A leading South Sudanese academic and activist living in exile in the United States has been charged in Arizona along with a Utah man born in the African nation on charges of conspiring to buy and illegally export millions of dollars’ worth of weapons to overthrow the government back home.
Peter B. Ajak fled to the U.S. with the help of the American government four years ago after he said South Sudan’s president ordered him abducted or killed.
Emergency visas were issued at the time to Ajak and his family after they spent weeks in hiding in Kenya.
A federal criminal complaint unsealed Monday charges Ajak and the Utah man of conspiring to illegally export a cache of weapons through a third country to South Sudan. The weapons included missile systems, sniper rifles, and grenade launchers, according to charging documents.
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Ajak obtained a master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School in 2009 and has since been a non-resident fellow at the school.
According to Harvard officials, he has been placed on administrative leave.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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