A UN contractor who was “kidnapped” in Malakal by men in uniform is still missing, according to the UNMISS national staff association president.
Bennett Kenyi, president of the UNMISS National Staff Association, told Voice of America that the worker was waiting at Malakal airport for a UNMISS flight to Juba when he was taken away by men in uniform.
“They just grabbed him from the line and took him away in a car,” Kenyi said.
This happened a week ago after SPLA-IO forces advanced against SPLA-Juba forces south of Malakal. The town of Malakal itself is controlled by SPLA-Juba and allied armed groups.
Kenyi said some witnesses claim the men who snatched the worker were “national intelligence security agents” while others said they were members of a pro-government militia.
He said he has written to the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, “raising a complaint about the … staff who has been kidnapped at the airport.”
Upper Nile Minister of Information, Peter Hoth Kwach, said the state has launched an investigation into the U.N. worker’s disappearance, Voice of America reported.
“The government as well as UN agencies and UNMISS are working hand in hand to make sure that this situation is contained,” Kwach said.
Elsewhere, sources in the Nuer community have identified one abductee by name, saying he is ethnically Nuer, and one of only two or three abductees. They say that the abductions were racially motivated.
Reports that the group were actually killed have not been confirmed, and may be false, since at least two of the abducted group were reportedly release.
A representative of Nuer youth in Juba claimed that the abductions were linked to the loss of Doleib Hill south of Malakal. SPLA-Juba forces “became angered and turned to target Nuer civilians,” he said.