Deported aid worker tells of wish to return

A Kenyan aid worker taken captive by government-aligned militia in northern Bahr al-Ghazal, southern Sudan, and later deported by the Sudanese government for having entered the country illegally, has said she hopes to return to relief work in southern Sudan but would like to see agreement between the warring parties on the status of relief workers. Juliana Muiruri, a nutritionist with Church Ecumenical Action for Sudan (CEAS), was seized near Nyamlell, Bahr al-Ghazal, after a raid by pro-government militia forces, the Sudanese Catholic Information Office (SCIO) and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) reported after the event. CEAS also reported one Sudanese worker missing (not the two previously reported by SCIO and SPLM/A) after militia raids around Aweil and Nyamlell in early November, which coincided with the presence in the area of the government's military train used to resupply and reinforce garrison towns, including Aweil, humanitarian sources told IRIN on Tuesday. In follow-up contacts with the authorities in Khartoum, there was no word of what may have happened to that man, and all departments of government denied any knowledge of his whereabouts, the sources added. After her abduction, Muiruri was taken northwards on the military train, heading from Wau to Khartoum, and was transferred hurriedly to the capital city before being released to the Kenyan embassy in Khartoum on 18 November. She returned to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on a Kenya Airways scheduled flight on 21 November. The Khartoum government said Muiruri had been in Sudan illegally, since it had never issued her with visa or work documents. Most relief organisations working in SPLM-held areas of southern Sudan operate with documents issued by the rebel movement, which are not recognised by the government. CEAS, which works outside the United Nations-led coordination umbrella Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), does food aid distributions, nutritional interventions and other humanitarian work in and around Aweil in close collaboration with the Catholic Diocese of Rumbek. The Catholic bishop of Rumbek, Caesar Mazzolari, had appealed to the Sudanese government to ensure the release of Muiruri, saying that she was "working in a war zone with the sole intent of assisting the tired civilian population" and that her liberation 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." In recent months, Khartoum has been trying to ensure that the United Nations and international aid agencies apply to it for visas for staff working anywhere in Sudan, and negotiations are ongoing. Speaking after her release, Muiruri thanked the Kenyan government for negotiating her release and ensuring her safe return to Kenya. She also said she hoped that Khartoum and the SPLM/A would come to an agreement on the status of relief workers in southern Sudan, according to the SCIO. "I would wish to go there with proper papers so that I can work with all the confidence I need," it quoted her as saying. Muiruri said the experience of being taken captive had helped enlighten her to the intricacies of the Sudanese conflict and the need for greater effort to facilitate the country's return to normality, the report stated. The Khartoum authorities had treated her well for her entire period in captivity, and she was "neither hit nor insulted" by her abductors during the period she was held, Muiruri added.