Eight fibre-optic workers abducted in Nagero, South Sudan
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Eye Radio
Eight workers installing a fibre-optic network were abducted on 29 October during an ambush in Nagero County, South Sudan, Western Equatoria Information Minister Noah Issa Phillip said. Seven workers remain detained and their abductors have made no demands public, Eye Radio reports.
Eight workers employed on fibre-optic network works were abducted on 29 October in Nagero County, South Sudan, by suspected armed men, according to Noah Issa Phillip, the Information Minister of Western Equatoria State, who was interviewed by Eye Radio. The workers, who were contracted by a private company, were travelling in a convoy of four vehicles between Nagero and Tambura when they were ambushed.
Seven workers remain detained. The minister said that one vehicle was later released and that its driver was ordered to go to Wau to bring money. He located the vehicles in Bandala, where government forces and SPLM-IO fighters, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition, clashed several weeks earlier.
Phillip accused forces linked to Alfred Futuyo Karaba, former governor of Western Equatoria and a member of SPLM-IO, of being involved in the abduction. Karaba has not claimed responsibility for the operation. The minister called for the workers’ release and urged MTN, the company associated with the works, to monitor the case. He also advised travellers and transporters using the Nagero-Tambura-Wau route to seek security clearance before setting out.
