South Sudan detains Norwegian NGO's employee

World Bulletin / News Desk

An employee of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) was arrested in the capital of the war-torn nation of South Sudan, a spokeswoman of the humanitarian organization in Oslo said.

“We can confirm that an NRC employee in Juba, South Sudan, was asked to come with staff from the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission to the National Security Thursday 8th December,” Tuva Bognes said in an email.

Citing security reasons and safety of the organization members in a volatile country consumed by over three years of civil war, she declined to reveal more details behind the arrest of the South Sudanese senior employee, whose name is being withheld due to concerns over his safety.

Bognes wrote: “NRC do not have any information why he is being held.”

Local online radio Tamazuj reported that South Sudan’s National Security Service on Thursday afternoon arrested the Norwegian Refugee Council employee at the office of the humanitarian organization.

Attempts to reach a government official for comment proved futile.

South Sudan’s civil war has already claimed tens of thousands of lives and forced 3 million people from their homes since December 2013 in one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

Aid workers as well as reporters have always been vulnerable in the civil war and most private investors have fled. Oil production has plunged to 130,000 barrels a day from 500,000 at its peak, and inflation is edging toward 900 percent.

The UN World Food Programme said last week that more than half of all households in Juba do not have access to enough food, more than double the figure in 2015.

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