The South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority Friday reversed an early statement canceling all flights destined for Agok town of the Abyei Administrative Area.
The Chief Executive Officer for the Civil Aviation Authority Captain Subek John David Dada on Thursday issued an order banning all flights to Agok saying that it had received an order from the Chief of Defense Forces of the South Sudan People’s Defense Force to cancel all flights to the area.
“Following urgent and very important letter from Gen. Santino Deng Wol Chok, South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) dated today 27th October 2022 concerning the above-mentioned subject no clearance to any aircraft flying to Agok until further notice by the authority,” the statement read in part dated 27th October 2022.
Barely 24 hours later, Subek John said the earlier statement was misquoted and had been reversed.
“That communication was signed by me, there was a miscommunication there. The original letter was misquoted, so we are now correcting it which is already corrected in the morning. So that restriction is not there, and it is being redirected,” John said.
He revealed that all airlines traveling to Agok can go normally but there will be thorough security checks before departure.
“This is a normal civil aviation operational matter. Sometimes, you can get a security alert from anywhere then you have to react to it, but the way we reacted was not the right way, that is why we corrected it,” John reiterated.