The commissioner of Warrap State’s Twic County on Thursday urged the authorities in Abyei Administrative Area to search for four youths he alleged are being held captive by armed youth in Abyei.
Adhar Akok told Radio Tamazuj that he has firm information from a survivor who escaped death at the hands of the armed youths speaking the Ngok Dinka dialect of Abyei that the missing youths were making their way home from Sudan when they were abducted near the Akec Nhial area.
“A series of incidents happened with the first on 10 October when Philip Makuei succumbed to death in Abyei Town and Atem Aguek was killed along the way from Amiet to Abyei. On 22 October, Muhamed Ajak Koch was killed in Amiet, and on 27 October, five youths were coming from Deber and they managed to arrive in Abyei Town. Three of them are from Gogrial West County, one from Twic County, and another one from Aweil,” he explained. “The one from Aweil is called Athian Lual, and the one from Twic is Chier Ajou. The other two, Wol Akot and Akot Wol are from Alek Payam in Gogrial West County. The survivor is called Bak Akot and he is with me here now and I brought him to be seen by the governor and then integrated into his family.”
“We do not know whether the abducted youth are dead or alive and that is why we called upon the Abyei authorities to search for them but they said there were no youth passing through their territory,” Commissioner Akok added.
He however insists that the missing youth were abducted by armed youths in Awalnhom which is within the Abyei Administered Area near the Akecnhial Bridge from where the survivor, Bak, escaped.
According to Akok, the survivor said the abductors spoke with a distinct Abyei accent and covered their faces.
For his part, Abyei Information Minister Bulis Koch said the information was false.
“This news came a few days ago and is not true. They said five youths and sometimes four youths are missing but when I talked to the army commander, General Kuoch, who is responsible for the army unit deployed in the area, he said there is nothing of that kind on the ground,” he explained. “The youth who survived ran and went to military barracks, was investigated and he claimed that there were five and four were missing. When the security personnel seriously probed him further, the survivor changed his story and said he was coming from Majak Kol.”