UN S.Sudan staff forcibly disappeared: Amnesty Intl

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) – Amnesty International through its regional offices in the Kenyan capital Nairobi late Wednesday announced that two staff members working for the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) may have been subjected to enforced disappearance.

In a statement calling for urgent action, Amnesty said that Anthony Nyero and James Lual have been missing since January this year and family members have not had contact with them since then.

“Anthony Nyero and James Lual, staff members of the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS), may have been subjected to enforced disappearance by South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS),” Amnesty said in a statement late on Wednesday.

The international rights group added that "their last known place of detention was an NSS (South Sudan National Security Service) facility in Juba town, along the bank of the Nile River.”

Amnesty called on the South Sudanese authorities to immediately release Anthony Nyero and James Lual or notify UNMISS of the evidence and charges against them as required by the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).

It also urged the South Sudanese government to ensure that Anthony Nyero and James Lual are not subjected to torture or other ill-treatment while in detention, and that they are allowed access to lawyers of their choice and adequate medical care.

According to Amnesty, Anthony Nyero is a UNMISS staff member and was working in the Civil Affairs Division, based in Torit and arrested by the NSS on the evening of 17 September 2014. In January 2016, he was transferred back to the NSS riverside detention facility. James Lual is an UNMISS security guard and was arrested on 23 August 2014. He was also transferred back to the NSS riverside detention facility in January.

Both are accused of supporting the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) but have not been charged with any criminal offense.