South Sudan activists on the ran as National Security Service conducts manhunt

JUBA – South Sudan’s activists Rajab Muhandis and Abraham Awolich are saying that they are on the run a few hours after the National Security Service (NSS) arrested one of their colleagues days after forming a pressure group.

“Fellow citizens, the People’s Coalition for Civil Action regrets to inform you that one of the principal signatories to the Declaration, Gov. Kuel Aguer Kuel, was arrested this morning by the National Security Services,” the People’s Coalition for Civil Action said in a statement.

“The other two signatories, Abraham Awolich and Rajab Mohandis are being hunted down now. The Sudd Institute, where Abraham Awolich is the Managing Director, was shut down this morning by National Security Services and all the staff have been taken to the Blue House for questioning and that they cannot go home until Abraham Awolich surrenders to the authorities,” the statement added.

The statement condemned the arrest and urged the National Security Service to immediately release their colleague Kuel Aguer, a former caretaker governor of the country’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal state who was arrested this morning by the spy agency.

“The Coalition condemns these illegal arrests and calls for immediate release of Gov. Kuel Aguer Kuel and the release of the Sudd Institute Staff and the reopening of the Sudd Institute, the only premier think tank in the country,” the statement said.

“We also call for immediate revocation of the arrest warrants of the two remaining signatories. The People’s Coalition for Civil Action is a massive civil organization that cannot be silenced or shutdown.

“With these actions, the Government of South Sudan proves that it is an authoritarian, politically bankrupt, and failed institution that does not tolerate or appreciate civil discourse. By attempting to intimidate the Coalition, the regime has escalated what was a simple civil discourse to now a showdown with the citizens.

“We therefore call on our people, the people of South Sudan, to bring this dictatorial, despotic, corrupt, and dangerous regime of cliques down through mass mobilization. Further communication shall follow immediately from the Coalition.

“We stand fully in solidarity with Gov. Kuel Aguer Kuel and his family and with the Sudd Institute and its staff. We call upon well-wishers to offer any assistance or support. We shall raise the temperature so high that it will become unbearable for the regime to withstand.

“The People’s Coalition is not to be underestimated in its capacity to challenge the regime and its capacity to mobilize the people of South Sudan. We are a non-violent political action organization, and we therefore warn the state not to start this process rough.”