Humanitarian coordinator abducted in Uror, South Sudan
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Radio Tamazuj
Gatwang Jokthiang Machar, coordinator of the Uror County Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, was abducted from his home by men suspected of belonging to the armed opposition SPLA-IO. The commission’s head in Jonglei State says the authorities are seeking to locate the aid worker and secure his release, Radio Tamazuj reports.
Gatwang Jokthiang Machar, coordinator of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) in Uror County, in South Sudan’s Jonglei State, was abducted at about 1 a.m. on Friday by armed men suspected of being linked to the SPLA-IO, according to James Jok Alier, chairperson of the Jonglei RRC, cited by Radio Tamazuj. The assailants forced open the door of his home before taking him to an unknown destination.
Information received in the afternoon indicated that the coordinator may have been taken to Pieri, but the authorities were still seeking to verify this lead, James Jok Alier said. He called on the armed group’s leaders to release him, recalling that Gatwang Jokthiang Machar is a humanitarian worker and not a political actor.
The chairperson of the Jonglei RRC said the abduction was a human rights violation and risked threatening all humanitarian workers in Uror. He warned that teams, many of them based in the county headquarters, would be unable to continue their work unless their safety was guaranteed. The SPLA-IO had not yet reacted on Friday.
The abduction comes two days after community clashes in Bor, which left nine people dead on 28 October, and a day after attacks in Duk that left two people dead, six injured and 46 cattle stolen on 29 October.
