By Aweye Teddy Onam
The United States Embassy in Juba joined the United Nations Acting Humanitarian Coordinator in condemning a brutal killing of aid workers in the country.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the latest attack targeting humanitarians on November 6 in Greater Pibor Administrative area,” a part of the US Embassy statement reads.
According to the US Embassy, a national aid worker contracted by an international non-governmental organization was killed in the gruesome incident.
“We also strongly condemn the November 11 attack in Warrap State in which a humanitarian worker was killed,” the statement continued.
Consoling families of the two victims, the US Embassy tasks the transition government to ensure safety for humanitarian service.
“It is the responsibility of South Sudan’s transitional government to establish conditions that ensure the safe provision of humanitarian assistance,” the Embassy stressed.
According to Acting Humanitarian Coordinator (OCHA) South Sudan statistics, four aid workers were killed in the line of duty, since the beginning of this year.
In 2022, nine aid workers were killed while delivering life-saving assistance, meanwhile, since 2013, a total of 142 humanitarians have been killed in the line of duty.
Humanitarian Outcomes / Aid Worker Security Report ranked South Sudan, for several years running, as the most dangerous place for aid workers.
The ranking comes after a number of attacks, victims, and fatalities.
Meanwhile, Warrap state Minister of Information, William Wol Mayom claimed to No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper on phone that the killing of the aid worker occurred in the Marial-Baai area of Western Bahr el Ghazal State.
“The attack took place as the humanitarian worker was coming from Wau to Kuajok, on his way while riding on a motorbike,” the minister recounted.
The minister identified the aid worker as James Aker, whom he said was working with World Vision as an assistant food monitor in Tonj North County, Warrap State.
The minister said that the aid worker fell in an ambush of attackers who questioned his origin, before executing the heinous act.
“He was then targeted because people who are fighting Gogrial East are from Marial Bai, and when they asked his name, he was identified as being from Gogrial East,” he narrated.
According to the minister, the killing was an act of revenge.
“That was why he was targeted, picked up from motorbikes, and taken to the bush,” Wol lamented.
He said the body of the attack victim had been recovered and brought by the governor of Warrap State.
The state information minister urged the authorities of Western Bahr-El-Ghazel to apprehend the culprits and bring them to book.
“We also urge the government of Western Bahr-El-Ghazel to patrol the highways because communal conflicts should not be brought to highways,” he appealed.
He lamented that the highways meant for the movement of goods and people from various states has become a place for way-laying ambushes.
Minister Wol reiterates Warrap State governor’s message of peace and commitment to harmonious co-existence.