Photo shows ammunition seizure, not bullets sold in South Sudan market

Published on August 15, 2025 at 14:51
3 min read
By Peris GACHAHI, AFP Kenya

South Sudan has long been plagued by conflict fuelled by civil war and inter-communal clashes, resulting in a prolonged humanitarian crisis and the proliferation of illegal ammunition. Posts shared on social media recently claim to show bullets being openly sold alongside cereals in a South Sudanese market, suggesting it is commonplace. But this is misleading; the image actually shows a woman who was arrested on suspicion of smuggling ammunition concealed in a sack of sorghum grain in Tonj South County, in South Sudan’s Warrap State.

“A normal day in SouthSudan. Bullets sold in the market along side cereals (sic),” reads an X post published on August 11, 2025, and reposted more than 1,900 times.

Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on August 12, 2025

The image shows a woman sitting on the ground next to sacks of grains and piles of bullets.

The claim was also shared on Instagram and on Facebook here and here.

South Sudan conflict

South Sudan has endured decades of conflict, driven by civil war and inter-communal conflict (archived here).

While the signing of the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) brought hopes of peace, implementation has been slow, and the country continues to face violence (archived here and here).

The human toll remains consequential. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), about 1.9 million people are displaced  within the country, while over 2.3 million others are refugees in neighbouring countries (archived here).

Additionally, South Sudan is a transit hub for smuggling illegal goods and ammunition from countries including Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo due to its porous borders (archived here).

To curb the influx of weapons that could fuel further fighting, the UN Security Council introduced an arms embargo in 2018. While this has curtailed official arms dealing, small arms and ammunition continue to flow in the country (archived here and here).

However, online posts claiming to show bullets being sold in a South Sudanese market are misleading.

Smuggled ammunition

AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches and established that while the photo was indeed taken in South Sudan, it has been shared in the wrong context on social media.

The image was featured in an August 8, 2025, article by South Sudanese media outlet Radio Tamazuj with the headline: “Woman arrested in Tonj South County for smuggling bullets” (archived here).

According to the report, the woman, only identified as Aguek, was caught by security personnel at a checkpoint trying to smuggle 1,121 bullets hidden in sorghum sacks from Northern Bahr el Ghazal State to Warrap’s Tonj East County.

Screenshot of the Radio Tamazuj article, taken on August 12, 2025

The incident was reported by other local media outlets (archived here and here).

The image, alongside others, was also published on Facebook by Tonj South County Commissioner’s press unit on August 7, 2025 (archived here).

“County authority apprehended the woman who sneaked ammunition in Alol of Tonj South county,” reads the post. “An operation carried out by Tonj South County security forces resulted in the arrest of people who were identified as conflict instigators, arms sneakers and the confiscation of a major cache of ammunition mixed with sorghum.”

AFP’s South Sudan correspondent also confirmed that “ammunition is not sold in open markets across the country.”

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