Lamwo Resident District Commissioner Osborn Ochieng says that the four were arrested at different intervals following a fierce fire exchange between the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) on Saturday.
Authorities in South Sudan have
released and handed over four Ugandan nationals who were held captive during a fire exchange between military forces last week.
Lamwo Resident District
Commissioner Osborn Ochieng says that the four were
arrested at different intervals following a fierce fire exchange between the
Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and the South Sudan People’s Defence
Forces (SSPDF) on Saturday. They were identified as Patrick Obwona, two-year-old Ramsey
Rwot-Twero, Joanna Acen and Charles Olweny Langoya, all residents of Nyimur Sub
County in Lamwo district.
It’s reported that Patrick Obwona who was on his routine farming activities in
Te-Lela
village attempted to flee along with
his two-year-old son, Ramsey Rwot-Twero when gunfire erupted. However, he was intercepted by South Sudan Soldiers prompting his wife Joanna Acen and a relative
identified as Charles Olweny Langoya to pursue him.
But both groups were arrested and held captive until today when they were presented to Ochieng at the Waligo border post. Ochieng says the captives were held at Owiny-Ki-Bul in Magwi County of the Eastern Equatorial State, adding that their release is a result of rigorous consultations and negotiations with South Sudan.
Lamwo Deputy Resident District
Commissioner Sebastian Oguti Oswin says that despite claims of humiliation and torture suffered by the
purported suspects in the hands of their captors, the ex-captive looked healthy
and were offered psychosocial support before they were reunited with their families.
Oguti condemned the capture which he
says is due to unfounded claims over borderline disputes which can only be
handled by the central governments of the two sovereign states but not by
inferior officers attached at the border.
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According
to Oguti, UPDF personnel were deployed at Waligo and Kadomera last week in response to persistent attacks on
innocent Ugandan civilian populations living within areas along the borders by
armed suspected South Sudan personnel.
Last month the LCI Chairperson of Padwat village in
Nyimur Sub County Kalisto Ongeee was killed by an armed suspected South Sudanese
bandit who in separate incursions have stolen a cumulative total of 220 herds
of cattle.
The County Commissioner of Magwi in
the Eastern Equatorial State of South Sudan David Remson Otoo regrets the
incidents although he refuted
allegations of torture and humiliation of the suspects which he pledged to
investigate.
Otto also pledged to investigate allegations of livestock thefts, killings
and other criminal activities purportedly being perpetrated by wrong elements
from South Sudan in Uganda’s hinterland.
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Otoo also implored the governments of
Uganda and South Sudan to expedite the process of redefining the common
boundaries between the two countries in order to end the longstanding border
disputes.
Dan Michael Komakech
Freelancer