About 42 South Sudanese university students on government scholarships were arrested by Ethiopian police after they occupied their embassy in protests against delayed living stipend on Thursday.

The affected students are mostly from the Institute of Technical Vocational Training.

A representative of the protesting students told Radio Tamazuj on Friday about 42 South Sudanese students were arrested after protests inside the embassy. He further said police authorities beat their colleagues and took them to an unknown prison, while accusing some staff at the embassy of ordering for their arrest.

The student pointed out that they didn’t receive allowances for 14 months, saying they are entitled to 100 USD monthly. The representative noted that the government failed to pay 14,000 USD to the body that provides food for them.

He noted that the cultural attaché at the embassy went to Juba over the past two weeks and that the Director of Training and Foreign Relations at the Ministry of Higher Education Dr. Benjamin Aphai couldn’t be reached by phone.

The complaining students revealed that the SPLA Chief of Staff Gen. Paul Malong Awan had pledged to pay the allowances needed by the university students who are studying in Ethiopia as soon as he returns to Juba, saying Malong gave them 1,000 USD in Addis Ababa on Friday.