The Peace Activist Who Was Caught Plotting a Coup : Shared by Viviane Sakkal

The Peace Activist Who Was Caught Plotting a Coup

By Ephrat Livni The New York Times February 14, 2026

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Summary:

Peter Biar Ajak, 42, one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan" who came to the United States as a teenage refugee in 2001, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison last week after pleading guilty to conspiring to violate U.S. weapons export laws. Once celebrated as a democracy advocate with degrees from Harvard and Cambridge, Ajak admitted to attempting to purchase millions of dollars worth of missiles, grenade launchers, anti-tank weapons, machine guns and ammunition for a planned revolt in South Sudan, using funds he obtained from Wall Street financier Robert Granieri under the pretense of humanitarian assistance.

Ajak's journey took him from child soldier to peace activist. He graduated from high school and college in Pennsylvania, earned a master's degree from Harvard, and worked as an economist at the World Bank. In 2010, he married the daughter of a South Sudanese general, and when South Sudan gained independence in 2011, he served as an adviser to the national security minister. After leading a youth movement critical of South Sudan's leadership, he was imprisoned without charges in 2018 for 18 months, emerging underweight with serious health problems. He returned to the United States in 2020 with his wife and children and became a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.

In 2023, federal agents posing as arms dealers, tipped off about South Sudanese operators seeking weapons, connected with Ajak. He told them he wanted to "spark a revolution" and execute "basically a coup," sharing an 18-page memo titled "Operation Free South Sudan" that detailed plans to become interim president after a violent uprising. After $4 million was transferred, Ajak went to inspect weapons at an Arizona warehouse in March 2024, where he was arrested. Neither Granieri nor democracy activist Garry Kasparov, who connected Ajak with the financier, were accused of wrongdoing.

Quotes:

"The peace agreements must be protected, not only by soldiers but also by having the right policies in place," Mr. Ajak said in an interview at Harvard around 2011.

Mr. Ajak told federal agents he thought it was time to do "something different" and was looking for arms to "spark a revolution" and execute "basically a coup."

Prosecutors noted in their sentencing memo: "As a leader in the South Sudanese community, defendant arguably bore a greater responsibility to serve as an example."

PaanLuel Wël, founder and editor of a South Sudan news blog, said that if the charges were true, Ajak had "not only jeopardized regional stability, but had also undermined efforts towards peace and security in South Sudan."