The UN Humanitarian agency on Tuesday called for swift and safe return of the six missing aid workers in South Sudan following clashes between government and opposition soldiers near Raga town on Sunday.
Alain Noudehou, the Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, called on warring parties to the conflict to respect the neutrality of ongoing humanitarian operations in the country.
“The six aid workers, including one international and five national staff, working for two international and one national aid organisations were traveling on Raja-Wau road when they went missing,” Noudehou said in a statement issued in Juba.
He disclosed that the aid agencies were implementing food security, livelihoods, health, and nutrition interventions in a region with some of the highest malnutrition rates in country where intermittent fighting continues unabated in spite ongoing efforts to find lasting peace.
Noudehou also reiterated the requirement on all parties to facilitate safe and unhindered access for humanitarian workers providing life-saving aid to vulnerable people throughout the country.
The South Sudan army had earlier said that the SPLA-in opposition rebels abducted some 10 people after they attacked two vehicles including a lorry that was moving from Raja to Mangayet which left two people dead.
SPLA Deputy Spokesman for the rebels, Lam Gabriel, said some of the missing aid workers belonged to local NGO Solidarities International.
Gabriel said: “The SPLA-IO forces also rescued four humanitarian staff whose identities and organisation are yet to be established being used as shields by the government in the transportation of these military hard wares.”
He added that the aid workers would be handed over as soon as possible to any concerned third party.
Humanitarian workers have been targeted with some being killed and others abducted by armed groups, while a total 92 aid workers have been killed in the more than four years of violence.
South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013, after political dispute between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy turned rebel chief, Machar, led to split within the SPLA, leaving soldiers to fight alongside ethnic lines.
The 2015 peace agreement to end the conflict was weakened after outbreak of renewed fighting in July 2016 caused the SPLA-IO rebel leader, Machar, to flee the capital.
In another development, South Sudanese leaders and stakeholders have been urged to work out a sustainable solution to a four-year conflict gripping the country.
Led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a five-day High-Level Revitalisation Forum for the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan entered its second day on Tusday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Inaugurating the forum on Monday, IGAD Chairperson, Hailemariam Desalegn, called on the South Sudanese warring parties to do their part for the peace and stability of the country.
Moussa Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, said the week would be a historic one in the post-independence history of South Sudan.
Faki said: “It can mark the beginning of a real reconciliation and the end of the suffering that the people of your country have been experiencing for four years.”
Commending IGAD for its commitment and unwavering support to the peaceful resolution of the conflict in South Sudan, the chairperson of the AU Commission urged member states and the international community to make effort to support the region.
Festus Mogae, Chairman of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission for South Sudan, called on South Sudanese leaders and stakeholders to come to the table in search of a sustainable political solution.
Mogae said: “At every level of society, from the village, to the community, the country, the state and the nation, dialogue and reconciliation must begin in earnest.
“You must find within you a desire to set aside the gun and settle your differences through dialogue and compromise.”
According to an IGAD statement, each of the delegates of the South Sudanese parties and stakeholders had expressed their strong support for the revitalisation process.
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