A South Sudanese man who was abducted in Kenya earlier this week has been deported to South Sudan and is being held at a military detention facility in Juba, community representatives said on Thursday.
Athorbey Al-Gaddhaffy-Dit Guet, widely known as Gaddafi, was reported missing in Nairobi on Monday after armed men seized him at gunpoint, according to family members and rights advocates. His disappearance raised fears that he had been forcibly returned to South Sudan.
Gaddafi, who is originally from the Bor community in Jonglei State and also holds Kenyan identification documents, had previously expressed concerns about his safety, according to people familiar with the matter.
His case has drawn concern from relatives and human rights organisations, which have called on Kenyan authorities to disclose his whereabouts, grant him access to family members and legal counsel, and investigate the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.
Kenyan activist and presidential aspirant Boniface Mwangi said Gaddafi approached him in April claiming his life was in danger after he provided journalists and human rights organisations with information alleging illicit financial flows and corruption in South Sudan involving CapitalPay, a company that operates government-linked digital revenue collection and e-government services.
Gaddafi’s wife has also cited disputes between her husband and business associates, including businessman Garang Mayom Kuoc Malek.
Sources told Radio Tamazuj that Gaddafi was transported by road from Kenya to the Nadapal border crossing, where he was handed over to South Sudanese security personnel before being taken to Juba, where he is being held at a Military Intelligence (MI) detention facility in the Giyada military complex, suggesting possible coordination between security agencies on both sides of the border.
Gaddafi in Juba
Elijah Manyok Jok, chairman of the Bor Community Youth Association, told Radio Tamazuj that the community’s inquiries indicated that Gaddafi had arrived in Juba following his deportation from Kenya.
“Our findings are that he has already been brought to Juba and is being held at a Military Intelligence detention facility in Giyada,” Manyok said.
“However, we have not yet been granted access to see him,” he added.
Manyok said the chief of Military Intelligence had told community representatives that access to Gaddafi would be considered after he received an official report from the detention facility detailing the circumstances of his arrest in Kenya and transfer to South Sudan.
“He told us he has not yet received the report from the facility. According to him, that report will explain why Gaddafi was arrested and deported from Kenya, and he will then be in a position to allow us to see him,” Manyok said.
Lt. Gen. Abud Stephen Thiongkol Ijong is the chief of Military Intelligence in the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF).
The deportation of Gaddafi to South Sudan adds to a series of cases documented by independent media, human rights groups and United Nations investigators over the past decade involving South Sudanese activists, opposition figures and government critics who were abducted, deported or forcibly returned from Kenya.
Kenyan and South Sudanese authorities were not immediately available for comment.
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