By William Madouk
For over 20 years, Hannan Abdallah has lived in anguish since her husband, Nasiruddin Tutu, a soldier, went missing during the Kassala conflict in Sudan in 2004.
“To my husband, if you can hear me, please come back. The children have missed you all these years,” Hannan urged in an interview with No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper.
“I’m exhausted from shouldering all the responsibilities alone, and I have no job,” She stressed.
After her husband’s disappearance, Hannan relocated to Juba with her four children-one son and three daughters on the advice of her uncle.
“In 2005, I came to Juba. He (my husband) was the one who took care of our family. My uncle suggested we come here, but he has neglected most of the responsibilities,” she recalled.
Hannan’s eldest son has since joined the army, while her daughters continue their education. With limited support, she managed to buy a plot of land after receiving assistance from the Red Cross.
“I moved from the camp after getting help from the Red Cross, bought a plot in Jebel Amian’een, built a house, and brought my children there. However, nobody is giving me a helping hand,” she explained.
Hannan feared that if she fell sick – the future of her kids would be bleak because no one would support their studies.
Several other families in the country, like Hannan’s, are caught in a painful limbo, torn between hope and despair over disappearance of their beloved ones.
Urging the government and humanitarian organizations to provide answers about their missing loved ones is not enough to usher them a glimpse of repose.
Mr. Pour Aliab, who resides at PoC camp, narrated that his brother went missing in Juba during the 2013 conflict, although they got minimal information that he is still alive – they have not met him.
“We have been searching for my brother and sometimes we get information that he is in Malakal, Renk and other times they said he is in Jonglei,” said Aliab.
“We do get some assurances that he is alive but to get access to him becomes difficult but we hope we still meet in the future,” he added.
He encouraged the families of the missing persons to be strong amid adversaries, citing that God would hear their voices and one day their beloved ones would return and the family reunite once again.
He urged the organizations and government to expedite their search and tracing efforts to find missing persons.
However, individuals who fled to Sudan continue to inform the family that their brother remains in El-Gadarif state. In 2018, ‘we were told he was killed at Malakal, while others are saying he is alive.”
“In 2018, in September we got information that he was killed in Malakal and also we heard that he is still alive – there is no genuine truth for his whereabouts,” said Mary.
According to Mary, she was recently informed that her brother John Deng, also known as ‘Wad-Jak’ had been killed in April 2024 when the Sudanese government bombed rebel areas.
“Other people informed us that since 2019 my brother was there and those in Khartoum told us he is not there and even in Juba here nobody has contact with him,” she noted.
“Just, in April 2024, I was told he was killed in a place where rebels were staying, they said there was an attack and he was shot dead but the truth remains unclear,” Mary continued.
She called for permanent peace to avoid such unfortunate events befalling the families.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) data, the figure of the missing persons in South Sudan stands at 6,000 cases.
Delfine Bermijn, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in charge of the protection of family links, said South Sudan registered 11,000 cases since independence, of which 5,000 cases were resolved.