April 19, 2017•Update: April 19, 2017
By Godfrey Olukya
ARU, Democratic Republic of Congo
The UN has said it will investigate the abduction of 13 of its workers on Tuesday by South Sudanese former rebels who are living in a UN camp in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
In a statement on Wednesday, the UN confirmed its staff had been released.
"All staff have returned safely to their homes. No casualties have been reported. The mission is investigating the incident,” the statement read.
The UN said the hostage takers had demanded to be relocated to another country to avoid their forced return to South Sudan.
However, Congolese living near the camp had demanded that their government remove the South Sudanese.
One Congolese, Jean Kangwa, told Anadolu Agency: “We want those people to be taken away from this place as soon as possible. We fear that in future they may become a thorn in our flesh.”
The South Sudanese fighters are part of over 500 former rebels who fled their country with their leader Riek Machar in August last year.
They were overpowered by government forces and fled with civilians. The civilians were taken to refugee camps by the UNHCR while the combatants were taken to other UN camps.
They reportedly want to be relocated to Uganda, Kenya or Ethiopia but have not been accepted by these states yet.
