Kenya aided rendition of South Sudan govt critic Morris Mabior - UN

Detained South Sudanese political and human rights activist Morris Mabior Awikjok. (File photo)

Kenyan police cooperated with South Sudan’s security agencies in the abduction and rendition of a government critic from Nairobi to Juba, according to a UN-backed inquiry published late last week.

The UN Commission on Hyman Rights in South Sudan said Morris Mabior disappeared after being forcibly returned to South Sudan in February and detained by the country’s National Security Service (NSS).

Carlos Castresana Fernandez, one of the three members of the UN-mandated independent commission told reporters at the report’s launch last Thursday in Nairobi that the conduct could only have been made with the cooperation of some agents in Kenya.

“We assume that he is still alive, and under custody of the National Security Service,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the Kenya Police Service told AFP she had not seen the report and could not comment on its findings.

Mabior’s disappearance has chilled other critics living outside South Sudan and underscored the government’s willingness to pursue dissenters beyond its borders, the commission said.

It warned that Juba’s “deep-seated aversion to public scrutiny” undermined the prospect that the country’s first-ever elections, slated for late 2024, would be credible.

It detailed how civil society activists were subject to violent reprisals for speaking out about human rights violations, and had their phones on online activity tapped and monitored.

NSS officers were stationed in every newsroom enforcing a draconian campaign of illegal censorship, the commission said.

“Even online media is not spared. Media that is based outside the country, which is out of the physical reach of security officers, is nevertheless targeted with cyber-attacks and website blocking to silence their reporting,” said Barney Afako, a commission member.

The climate of fear and control extends beyond South Sudan, the commission said, with Juba harassing and intimidating critics living abroad, particularly in neighboring countries Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda.

“These extra-territorial operations have included the participation of security forces of other countries,” the report said.

In the high-profile case of Mabior, a former civil servant, the commission received “credible information” that Kenya police officers were involved and present during the abduction.

In light of the findings…particularly on the involvement of the Kenyan police in the rendition, a credible inquiry is required to further determine the circumstances,” the commission said.

‘Cruel treatment

There needs to be a recommitment of all neighbors of South Sudan…(to) respect their legal obligations, particularly not to return people who are almost certainly going to face cruel treatment,” Afako said.

In January, a month before Mabior’s disappearance, Kenyan President William Ruto vowed there would be no enforced disappearances under his administration.

Mabior held at NSS’ Blue House in solitary confinement

Relatedly, Garang John, a broadcast journalist who used to work for the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) and was detained on suspicion of leaking the embarrassing video of President Salva Kiir wetting himself last December while at a function to officially launch the Juba-Terekeka Road, Mabior is being held at the NSS’ Internal Security Bureau (ISB) Headquarters in Juba in solitary confinement with only food being pushed under the door of his cell once a day.

According to Garang, who has been writing a series of articles about his experiences while in detention on his social media handle titled “Prison Diary” claimed that Manior who has been held incommunicado since his detention was slowly losing his mind and is sick.

“For the past two days, Mabior has been heard screaming in pain inside his solitary confinement. He is also heard calling for help. He cannot breathe, his heart is paining and he is coughing blood. Other inmates have reported this to the management of the prison but no one cares. The guards have been cautioned not to give him any service,” he wrote. “This concerned security guard said he secretly gave him some antibiotics and painkillers but his situation is beyond. Mabior has developed a serious mental disorder. He is talking to himself and sometimes calling names of his family members.”

“Morris Mabior Awikjok, allegedly accused of insulting a feared South Sudanese army General, was kidnapped in Nairobi and brought to Juba's Blue House prison for torture,” Garang concluded.