Concern for abducted relief workers

The fate of a Kenyan worker with a Christian relief agency in southern Sudan was still unknown on Wednesday, several days after government-aligned militia seized her and two Sudanese co-workers in Northern Bahr al-Ghazal, the Sudanese Catholic Information Office (SCIO) reported on Wednesday. The Catholic bishop of Rumbek in southern Sudan, Caesar Mazzolari, has appealed to the Sudanese government to ensure the release of Juliana Muiruri, seized on Friday (2 November) after a raid by pro-government forces on the compound where she worked as a nutritionist for Church Ecumenical Action Sudan (CEAS). Two male Sudanese co-workers, whose names could not be ascertained, were taken along with Muiruri, according to a statement on Saturday from the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). The two worked with Christian relief agencies under the auspices of the Diocese of Rumbek, and outside the UN-coordinated Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) humanitarian programme for the south, according to humanitarian sources. Muiruri was abducted from a relief centre in Aweil, where she had fled from "marauding government troops and militias" who raided the nearby town of Nyamlell, in Northern Bahr al-Ghazal State, the SCIO reported on Monday. However, sources in southern Sudan have suggested to IRIN that the three aid workers were taken captive by the paramilitary People's Defence Forces (PDF) during a food distribution east of Nyamlell. CEAS distributes food relief, in conjunction with the Diocese of Rumbek, in Nyamlell and surrounding villages, which on 2 November had been attacked by armed pro-government elements who killed 21 civilians and captured over 100 women and children, Christian Solidarity International (CSI) reported on Monday. "At the time of her kidnapping, she was working in a war zone with the sole intent of assisting the tired civilian population," SCIO quoted Mazzolari as saying. "I feel that Juliana Muiruri's liberation is [would be] an act of justice that the government... must carry out if it wants to demonstrate to the world that human rights are respected in Sudan." The militia ransacked the Aweil compound, owned by the Diocese of Rumbek, in which Muiruri worked for CEAS, and which also housed other Christian relief agencies, Samson Kwaje, a spokesman for the SPLM/A, stated on Monday. Kwaje condemned the government forces, saying they were targeting relief centres and civilians rather than SPLA units, and called for the immediate release of Muiruri and her two male Sudanese co-workers who, he said, were initially held in the government garrison of Wadweil, north of Nyamlell. Muiruri had subsequently been put on a north-bound military train, heading towards Meiram and Muglad in Southern Kordofan, Kwaje told AFP news agency. The 2 November raids coincided with the recent arrival in Aweil of fresh "mujahidin" troops accompanying the government's Khartoum-Wau military train, according to CSI. When the train is making its journey, Khartoum normally "dispatches the militias and government forces to carve a security zone along the railway line", SCIO reported on Wednesday. As the train left to return to Khartoum, two groups of mounted mujahidin, totalling about 500 soldiers, left the railway on Friday to raid north and south along the River Lol, according to CSI. The militia had attacked the villages of Agual, Warcuer, Ngat Akot, Kagiik, Lueth Lal and War Ameth, it added. Fears were also rising over the potential for renewed fighting in Western Bahr al-Ghazal amid reports that the government was moving troops from Wau town to Raga (which it recaptured from the SPLA in mid-October), the SCIO reported on Wednesday. Humanitarian sources have confirmed the movement of some 9,000 displaced people out of Raga towards Tambura since the government offensive in which it recaptured Raga. There were also unconfirmed reports that the displaced were being pursued by PDF forces With most of the major towns between Wau and Raga - including Daym Zubayr, Sopo, Abulu and Khawr Ghana - in SPLA hands, the situation was "very worrying", the SCIO quoted an unnamed source as saying. "People are very worried that fresh fighting will flare up in the area," the source added.