South Sudanese Catholic Bishop Appeals for “safety” of Missing Former State Governor

CANAA || By Fr. Don Bosco Onyalla, Nairobi || 20 August 2015

Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of the Catholic diocese of Tombura-Yambio in South Sudan is appealing for the “safety” of the former Western Equatoria governor, Bangasi Joseph Bakosoro, who “has gone missing with no official statement from the government.”

On Sunday, August 16, South Sudan President Salva Kiir sacked the governors of the States of Western Equatoria, Warrap, Central Equatoria, and Upper Nile, through a presidential decree read on the state television, SSTV.

According to the bishop, the removal of Bakosoro from his office as governor on August 16 through the presidential decree “was accepted as a normal and legitimate government administrative prerogative.”

The transitional constitution of South Sudan gives the President the power to “remove a state Governor and/or dissolve a state legislative assembly in the event of a crisis in the state that threatens national security and territorial integrity.”

“The disappearance of Col. Bungee Bakosoro, according to family members, took place at 11.45 PM (on Sunday) from his private residence,” Bishop Hiiboro revealed, adding, “He was apparently taken by security personnel.”

“It is now five days and no news of him has been communicated to his family, the general public and the people of Western Equatoria in particular,” the Bishop lamented, calling for adherence to the country’s legal norms, which require one’s trial within 24 hours of detention.

“By the time the former governor was arrested, he was sick and needs medication,” Bishop Hiiboro stated in his letter dated Thursday, August 20, 2015, in which he appeals to the government of South Sudan to share news about “and to assume responsibility for the life and wellbeing of the former governor.”

In the letter, the bishop also appeals for calm and peace among the people in Western Equatoria State saying, “Nobody should encourage any tension which leads people into unnecessary violence.”

On Tuesday, the director of South Sudan Human Rights Society for Advocacy (SSHURSA), Biel Boutros Biel, condemned the arrest of the former governor and called for his immediate release.

“This is humiliation to him as a person and abuse of his rights to fair trial under article 19 of the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan 2011. This constitutional provision obliges arresting authority to bring the accused before the court of law within 24 hours as specifically stipulated under article 19(4) of the Constitution,” Sudan Tribune quoted Boutros Biel as saying in a statement he issued on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, on Monday, President Kiir refused to sign a peace deal supported by IGAD and the troika (the US, the UK and Norway) claiming that the text of the accord had been altered from the one that had been agreed upon and that he needed 15 days for further consultations.