Christian Workers were abducted and released in South Sudan.
According to sources, Originally published in Christian Daily! Six Christian workers were abducted in South Sudan on September 26 and released on Thursday (October 1), after their vehicle was ambushed by unidentified gunmen along the Juba-Yambio Road.
The ministry’s country director, Pastor David Nyoma John, told Morning Star News that the Young Life South Sudan workers were returning from theological education in Kajo Keji on September 26 at about 9.45pm. “Unidentified armed group took them and held them for about five days in the far bush under harsh conditions,” said the statement.
The abducted workers reported being beaten, carrying heavy loads for miles, and not receiving adequate food and water. Pastor John stated that the workers were forced to sleep in the open without any shelter or bedding. The assailants confiscated their personal belongings, such as mobile phones, Bibles, and theological training certificates.
He further explained that the workers, who were all native South Sudanese, were traumatized and required psychosocial and medical care. The workers, all of whom were native South Sudanese, were identified as Thomas Oliver, Japheth Elisama, John Simon, Justin Wilson, James Banyi, and Ezibon Yoanna. The reasons behind their release were not immediately clear, but it appeared that they were taken as a means of punishment for their ministry.
Catholic Bishop of Tombura-Yambio Diocese Eduardo Hiinoro Kussala expressed his disapproval of the kidnapping and other attacks on civilians. He urged the armed groups to cease their attacks on civilians. “Those individuals you are ambushing are your brothers, and your citizens,” he emphasized in a radio station in Juba, Eye Radio.
They are your brothers and sisters,” the Joshua Project reports, indicating that South Sudan’s population is 63.7% Christian, 26.9% ethnic, and 8.8% Muslim. In 2013, South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, gained independence from Sudan in July 2011, and civil war erupted in 2013.
According to the United Nations, despite a 2018 peace agreement, many people are at risk due to renewed violence, political tensions, corruption, and impunity. Christians have been targeted in the country. The body of Pastor Lino Pasquale of Hai Baraka Pentecostal Church, who was abducted on February 19 after fishing at a river in Gondokoro, 10 kilometers away from Juba, was discovered on February 25.
The Sudan Pentecostal Church (SPC) leaders claim that he was “targeted and killed by unknown gunmen” and that the killing was not an isolated incident. On January 14, the Rev Christopher Maring, a senior leader of the African Inland Church (AIC), was killed, according to AIC Deputy Presiding Bishop Martin Mogga.
Pastor Maring was shot and killed at his home in the Gudele suburb at about 7.30pm by unknown gunmen, they said.30 Church leaders in the area are calling for better protection and investigations into targeted killings, as the motives for the attacks are still officially “unidentified” by local authorities.
