Jonglei: Duk county authorities call for pastor’s release

March 20, 2014 (JUBA) – Authorities of Duk county in South Sudan’s Jonglei state have appealed to armed opposition forces to release a pastor they allegedly took hostage two days ago.

An official said Pastor Mawut Deng and three other women were on Tuesday abducted from their homes in Pajut, Panyang payam; a rebel stronghold bordering Uror county.

“They are innocent,” Elijah Mocnom Wuor told Sudan Tribune by phone on Thursday.

Duk county has recently witnessed fierce fighting between armed opposition forces and local youth. The rebels were allegedly repulsed out of the country last week.

Jonglei, the country’s largest and most populous state was one of the regions badly hit when violence broke out in the South Sudan capital, Juba in mid-December last year killing over 10,000 and displacing close to a million people in the new nation.

(ST)