The South Sudanese Ambassador in Kenya says there are ongoing talks with Kenyan government officials to investigate an incident where five South Sudanese youth in Kenya’s Nakuru County were set ablaze.
One of the young men died while four others are fighting for their lives at the Nakuru Level Five Hospital in Kenya after they were set ablaze by an angry mob on Saturday night at their rented house in Mawanga estate.
The five – Ajang Chol Ajang, Akuien Chol Ajang, Garang Chol Ajang, Guor Anya Guor, and Bul Garang Bul, all in their 20s – suffered serious burn injuries.
In an interview with Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday evening, Ambassador Chol Ajongo said, “Since Saturday until now, I have made persistent communication with concerned officials in the ministry of foreign affairs and I am waiting for a response that the perpetrators be arrested and brought to book.”
He explained, “I got initial information around midnight when one of the young people called me and informed me of the incident and sent me pictures of the victims of the assault. A group of Kenyans attacked them by setting fire to their bodies,” he said. “I sent a delegate from the embassy here on Saturday. He went to the victims’ home in the area of the accident.”
Ajongo said that on Sunday, the embassy official went to the police in the region but they denied knowledge of the incident and later gave a different account of the incident.
He said according to the police, the boys sexually harrassed a Kenyan girl sparking the outrage.
“But the story contradicts the story that we got from the victims. They said they went to a shop in the neighborhood to buy some stuff but the girl who was selling at the shop refused to return their change. They got into an argument and when it was heated, he decided to go home,” he explained.
The ambassador said that people gathered due to the quarrel and mobilized to attack the house where the South Sudanese boys reside and they set the house on fire, burning five boys who were inside.
Ambassador Ajongo stated, “If we assume for the sake of argument that a sexual assault occurred, the reaction cannot rise to the level of burning people’s bodies, nor to the level of murder as well. Attacking people in their homes and pouring gasoline on their bodies is called premeditated murder. It is a full-fledged crime, and even if the young men whose home was attacked, this was legally counted in the context of self-defense.”
He said there is no evidence of sexual abuse reported and no one has been arrested following the harrowing incident.
Ambassador Ajongo said the victims are students in Kenyan Universities who live by themselves, adding that one of those in the hospital is in critical condition.
He called on South Sudanese residing in Kenya to be vigilant.
“You should be very careful. Most of the young South Sudanese born in Kenya think simply on the basis that they were born in Kenya, they forget that they are foreigners,” he added.
The diplomat urged citizens of both countries to allow authorities to handle the matter.
“We ask the South Sudanese in Kenya to leave the case to the governments of the two countries, and they must commit to giving the law a chance to take its course. The embassy will follow up on the case at the official level,” he assured.