South Sudan’s army has released six humanitarian workers who were arrested in January for allegedly smuggling guns to the armed opposition group in Yei, the international medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said in a statement to AP.
In a separate statement seen by Radio Tamazuj today, Brice de le Vingne, director of operations for the organization, said:”We are relieved that our colleagues, who were working hard to bring health care to people in need, have now been released and can return to their families.”
According to MSF, two of the aid workers were released on January 27, and the four others were released on March 31.
“Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) confirms that a team of staff, who were taken on Wednesday 4 January while on duty, has been released from the custody of the SPLA (South Sudan Army) forces. Two staff were released on 27 January and four others on 31 March,” partly reads the statement, without citing the reason for their arrest.
However, the medical aid charity affirmed its commitment to continuing its life-saving work in South Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of people depend on emergency humanitarian assistance for their survival.
For his part, the SPLA deputy spokesman, Santo Domic, confirmed to Radio Tamazuj that they have released the detained aid workers. He pointed out that two of the aid workers are foreigners and the four others are South Sudanese.
However, the army spokesman did provide more details on the matter.