About 12 youth have been arrested by security personnel in the town of Renk in Northern Upper Nile state for allegedly opposing the governor’s appointment of a new town mayor.

Dau Goc Ayuel, a former commissioner of Melut, was appointment as the new mayor of Renk town by Governor Awer Dau Agany.

Sources, who preferred anonymity, told Radio Tamazuj that 12 youth were arrested by security personnel in Renk on Monday and Tuesday.” Ayuel Yuar, Mukhtar Kur and Abdu Ali are among the arrested youth,” one of the sources said.

For his part, Governor Awer Dau Agany said he had “no official information” that security forces arrested local youth in Renk. “I have not received any information from the security committee about arrests,” he said.

However, he said a group of youth in Renk had written a letter in protest against the appointment of the new mayor of Renk town.

“A group of youth wrote a letter on 29 October in which they rejected the appointment of Dau Goc Ayuel as the new mayor. They said Goc hails from Melut,” he said.

He added, “We clarified the issue to them and we asked them to apologize because their petition could stir up sedition in the area, but they failed to apologize.”

The top state official further said the new mayor was appointed in accordance with the Local Government Act, 2009.