Unity state: Three WFP staff arrested in connection with missing colleague

By Bonifacio Taban Kuich

April 26, 2013 (BENTIU) – Officials from South Sudan’s Unity state on Thursday confirmed the arrest of three employees of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in connection with the disappearance of a colleague in the field.

WFP worker Samuel Ruai Kuoth went missing while on a on a field visit on 17 May in Payinjiar county after telling colleagues he was going to a nearby market.

Investigations into Kuoth’s disappearance have so far not been able to establish any further information about his whereabouts or welfare.

WFP sources say Kuoth was physically fit and did not suffer from a mental illness.
Following police investigations into the matter, the attorney-general and the security advisor on Tuesday ordered the arrest of the three WFP employees.

According to authorities, the WFP team had been planning to make a second stop at a food storage facility in Pulmuk prior to Kuoth’s disappearance.

The arrested staff told authorities they had gone to check on Kuoth after 30 minutes and conducted a search of the surrounding area after they were unable to locate him.

This apparently contradicted reports from Kuoths family, who say he went missing in the evening.

However, WFP staff in the field with Kuoth at the time of his disappearance have denied the claims.

It is the second time Kuoth has disappeared, having gone missing for one day at Yida refugee camp, where he was earlier posted as part of a separate operation.

WFP communications officer George Fominyen told VOA on Thursday that the agency would not be making any comment while investigations in Unity state are underway.

Deputy governor Michael Chiengjiek Geay confirmed the detention of the three UN WFP staffs, saying the arrests had been ordered by the attorney-general while investigations are carried out.

Geay said the employees were being held for questioning over discrepancies in the timeline when Kuoth went missing.

“Yes the three staffs are now in police custody for questioning until the police find the facts”, he said.

Geay has dismissed suggestions that the detention of the WFP staff and allegations they are being mistreated in Bentiu prison had sparked tensions in the local community.

He also denied they were being held as suspects in the case.

“We have never considered them as the real suspect in what had happened. The reason that the police kept them in custody is just only to investigate and know the facts,” he said.

“A team of WFP visits them and talks to them and they were even seen, for those who were alleging that the guys are [being] tortured, this is not true; these are just false allegations”, he added.

Last week, a WFP security team visited Bentiu, where they also held discussions with county officials there

Meanwhile, Unity state authorities say investigations into the circumstances surrounding Kuoth’s disappearance, with a committee composed of family members, WFP representatives and authorities are due to travel to Payinjiar county for furthest investigations.

(ST)