About a dozen youths including men and women and at least one Catholic Church staff were arrested in Yambio town over the weekend on suspicion of links with armed groups in Western Equatoria state, sources in the town told Radio Tamazuj.
The youths were traveling on Sunday with a Catholic Church convoy led by two priests when SPLA commandos stopped them in Nzara county, according to a source in Yambio. That source said that the detainees were transferred to custody of the National Security Service in Yambio before the priests were released the same day.
A second source said Tuesday the other passengers remain in custody of NSS and that some of the priests’ properties were confiscated by the security agents. This source said a Catholic Church driver was also detained and accused of transporting goods to armed groups in the state.
Radio Tamazuj’s calls to representatives of the Catholic Diocese of Yambio including the bishop went unanswered Tuesday. The Yambio county commissioner did not pick up his phone when Radio Tamazuj called.
Religious groups including the Catholic Church are involved in a process to create peace between local communities and the SPLA forces sent to the state.
File photo: A boy sits in a Catholic church in Tambura, Western Equatoria, 2012 (Trevor Snapp/Pulitzer Center)