UN helicopter briefly detained in W. Equatoria’s Nagero county
April 29, 2011 (YAMBIO) – An United Nations Mission in Sudan helicopter was briefly detained yesterday in Nagero county.
“On Thursday 10:00a.m, a helicopter came from Namutina in Nagero county and landed at Tombura airstrip and when people were coming closer to see who has come by the chopper, immediately the pilot took off and headed to Yambio,” eyewitness Ngbari Mario told Sudan Tribune from Tombura.
Before the helicopter landed in Tombura it is alleged that more than Arrow Boys had mobilised themselves to determine what was happening. The helicopter has been heard in the area for almost three weeks. It landed in Namutina without any information.
In a radio message obtained by Sudan Tribune a Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) commander from Namutina payam (district), who requested anonymity confirmed that they (the SPLA) had briefly detained the UN aircraft which had been travelling without passing on the relevant information to the local authorities and security organs.
Eyewitnesses said villagers had suspected the UN helicopter belonged to Khartoum and was supplying weapons to Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
The LRA is a rebel group originally from northern Ugandan. They have been causing havoc in the region for years. They kidnap, rape, mutilate and murder without coherent demands. The Arrow Boys are groups of local militias who have taken up arms to defend their communities.
Namutina, an SPLA commander confirmed that 17 Bangladesh soldiers and SPLA officer were aboard the UN helicopter.
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement youth league chairperson of Tombura County, Yoane Nafuoni, saw the helicopter at Tombura airstrip and told Sudan Tribune that he had assumed that dark skinned Bangladeshi soldiers were northern Arabs.
There have been allegations agaionst the Khartoum government of funding the LRA to carry out acts of terrorism in South Sudan.
According to Tombura County Executive Director Mr. Evans Hassen Bakhit Awari UNMIS official had contacted him from Yambio “apologizing for the inconvenience, the UN official confirmed that the flight belongs to UNMIS and it was on security monitoring mission”.
Awari said he rejected the apology, referring to them to Mr. Babiro Charles Gbamisi Commissioner of Tombura County who was in Yambio at that time.
Reliable military intelligence source from SPLA barracks in Namutina that there was a hot radio message from SPLA Brigadier General that “the flight must be released immediately for further investigation in Yambio”.
(ST)