The Executive Director for the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Edmund Yakani has called upon the national government and the Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangement Monitoring Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM) to investigate into the recent abduction of two civil society activists in Yei River County.

“We are calling upon the government to investigate this abduction, we call upon CTSAMVM to come with public report, and I also call upon the UN Human Rights Commission for South Sudan and the Human Rights Council in Geneva to ensure the whereabouts of these activists is identified,” said Yakani on Saturday in an interview.

On September 5, 2024, John Kenyi Santino who works as the monitoring and evaluation officer for Rural Women for Development and his colleague, Mandela Stephen who is the extension worker of the same organization were abducted in Logo area along Yei -Maridi road.

Yakani revealed that the whereabouts as well as the fate of the two civil society activists remain unknown, adding that CEPO is concerned about the abduction of the duo.

“This is a total violation of human rights and at the same time an act of shrinking civic space, and also an act of undermining peace and stability in the country. We would like to demand with due respect that those behind the abduction be held accountable,” he said.

In August 2024, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan(UNMISS) expressed concern about rising abductions, allegedly carried out by the National Salvation Front(NAS) and other armed elements operating in Central Equatoria State.

UNMISS revealed that they registered in July 2024 some 12 cases of abductions, affecting 134 individuals including six children in Yei River, Morobo and Lainya counties of Central Equatoria State.