By Bosco Bush
A member of parliament representing Eastern Equatoria State in the National Assembly has voiced concerns about unlawful arrests and the intimidation of civilians from Himodonge Payam by security agents in the area.
Lawmaker Icha Joyce revealed that on August 16th, a young boy was arbitrarily arrested by military intelligence personnel within Torit County while he was watching a football match.
His whereabouts has remained unknown since then, according to the lawmaker.
“It was allegedly reported that he was arrested that evening at 3 when he was watching football at the playground. In the morning the relatives went to search and to visit, they found him the following day he was said to have brought to Juba where the relatives went and searched in all the cells within Juba and Torit. But his whereabouts is not known up to this time. This arrest was done by the military intelligence within Torit County,” Joyce recounted.
The lawmaker also mentioned other incidents, including individual threats and extortion of money, particularly from businesswomen transporting their farm produce to the Torit market.
She described the security situation in Himodonge and within Torit as “not normal,” urging the National Legislative Assembly to address the issues with urgency.
In response, the 2nd Deputy Speaker, Parmeno Awerial Aluong acknowledged the point raised and referred the issue to the Committee for Security for consideration.