Skip to main content
RENK - 11 Jan 2013

Sennar Farmers Union facilitates release of 11 abducted workers

The Sennar Farmers Union on Wednesday facilitated the release of 11 agricultural workers who were arrested 26 December by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) while working in agricultural fields in northern Upper Nile near the border with Sudan.

Dhieu Chan, the agriculture project owner told Radio Tamazuj from Renk that the agriculture fields in Northern Upper Nile which are adjacent to Sennar, White and Blue Nile witnessed a lot of incidents, many involving the Sudan Armed Forces.

In the incident on 26 December last year the army abducted 11 people in addition to the agricultural equipment inside claimed South Sudanese territory of Upper Nile state.

Chan added that the farmers were working in the daytime when Sudanese soldiers approached them and took them to Mazmum military camp in Sennar State.

He related that the workers spent more than 8 days in the army camp and claimed that they were seriously tortured until the state Farmers Union intervened and addressed the issue to the state authorities.

He further disclosed that they were monitoring the event until their members were released this week and reached to Renk town yesterday, and expressed his happiness in the position of the Sennar Farmers Union.

For his part, the Renk County Commissioner Godi Kuei urged the Sudan Armed Forces to desist from attacking the farmers and destructing the agricultural fields in their areas.

Kodi said during an interview with Radio Tamazuj that the agriculture enterprises and farmers in the northern Upper Nile experience repeated violations of looting and plundering of the properties in addition to the confiscation of their agricultural machineries.

He cautioned that accumulation of anger among the farmers and citizens due to such repeated violation will lead to further unexpected incidents in the border areas.