The South Sudan National Security Services (NSS) in Torit on Thursday arrested more than 20 members of the Monyiemiji Forum after protests on Wednesday where they issued an ultimatum for NGOs to leave the town within 72 hours.
The Monyiemiji Forum comprising youth from Torit, Ikotos, and Lopit counties of Eastern Equatoria State claim that their concerns over unjust employment have not been resolved since they petitioned the state government in April.
On Thursday morning, the national security arrested two members of the Monyiemiji at the Omoliha market. When word went round, other members of the Monyiemiji gathered and marched to the national security offices to demand the release of their colleagues, but they too were arrested.
Following the arrests, Eastern Equatoria State governor Louis Lobong Lojore addressed the state on the government-owned Voice of Eastern Equatoria State 97.5 FM radio regarding the unfolding Monyiemiji unemployment saga.
In his address, Lobong demanded an apology from the Monyiemiji and urged them to allow the government to resolve their grievances while NGOs including UN agencies operate freely without interruption in the state. He confirmed that some Monyiemiji youth had been arrested.
“We as government must make laws, implement the laws and those who break the law will be taken to court, am sorry that these children of ours yesterday (Thursday) attacked the office of national security, and some of them were arrested and some of them ran. These children did not give us a chance to resolve their problem and now they have gone beyond the law. They gave an ultimatum to NGOs and this is intimidation to the government and the organizations," Governor Lobong said
He added, "If the organizations leave our citizens will suffer, for them to come back it will take years and in all these times where will people be. I want to tell our citizens that we (government) will implement the law, will make security to the organizations and the citizens and we have told organizations not to go and today (Friday) we will meet with organizations so that they provide their services and we as a government will be there."
The governor stressed that the youth must apologize to the state for demonstrating and issuing an ultimatum to NGOs despite efforts by the government to resolve their grievances.
Lobong urged parents to talk to their children to stop threatening humanitarian agencies from the state, saying they provide services to the most vulnerable communities.
Governor Lobong said the jobs assessment exercise by the committee will only continue if the situation is calm, adding that those arrested will be investigated and face the law once found guilty.
Johnson Sereno Omojo, a member of the Monyiemiji Forum said they have written an official apology to the state government and revoked the 72 hours ultimatum to allow humanitarian agencies to continue with their work.
Sereno urged the release of those arrested and called for dialogue.
“Those at the national security are 19, and those at prison services are four. We have sent our apology, you know the monyiemiji came with anger, we even tried to advise them but they were angry to the extent they wanted to fight us. We knew it was wrong that is why we wrote an apology to let the organizations work like they used to work and nothing will happen to them," Sereno said.
He added that the youth were angered by Vice President Rebecca Nyandeng's statement on Monday indicating that 81 percent of jobs in humanitarian agencies in Eastern Equatoria State are held by natives of the state. The Monyiemiji have refuted the figure and accused the team of bias and a hidden agenda, saying those figures were 'cooked'.
“We need to have dialogue as you can see we don’t have problem with government or organizations but they are angered by the vice president's speech, am requesting that they should be released," he added.
Charles Okullu, the chairperson for the Civil Society Network in Eastern Equatoria state (CSNEES) called on the government to investigate the matter as soon as possible.
“Let the investigation go on and if they are really not guilty, they have not done anything by the law they should be released quickly because we are handling sensitive issues at the moment that requires us to come together and coexist seeing how best those issues can be addressed “, he said
Okullu appealed to all the parties involved to seek peaceful means to resolve the matter.