Garang Atak Deng Yel, a 45-year-old from Malual-baai in Aweil East has appealed to Juba and Khartoum to help release his children and wife allegedly being held by his in-laws in Kordofan in Sudan - Credit | Alhadi Hawari/Eye Radio | Nov. 29, 2021

A South Sudanese man has appealed to the government of South Sudan and Sudan to intervene and help release his children and wife allegedly being held by his in-laws in Kordofan, Sudan.

Garang Atak Deng Yel says he was only four-years-old when he was separated from his parents in Northern Bahr el Ghazal in the 1980.

An old man in Kordofan named Adam Hassan Eidam adopted him.

In 2005, after he grew up to be a successful trader, he got married.

But when he told his in-laws recently that it was about time for him to return home to South Sudan, they opposed it and attempted to kill him five times.

However, he managed to escape – leaving behind his wife Afaf Mohamed and five children, namely: Om-Salama, Omnia, Abrar, Mohamed and Muzamil – aged between 5 and 16.

The 45-year-old man from Malual-baai in Aweil East went on to appeal to the government of South Sudan and Sudan to intervene.

“I’m appealing to our brothers in Sudan and South Sudan to help my situation, because I was deprived of my family for good three years and I want to reunite with my children and my wife,” Garang told Eye Radio in Juba on Monday.

“I am calling upon the minister of foreign affairs of South Sudan to cooperate and coordinate with the government of Sudan to bring my family to South Sudan.

“This can help a lot and I don’t have any problem with anybody and even now I am communicating with them and sending money and always calling my wife.”

Garang, who survived an attempt on his life, says he was informed of a plan to kill him.

“They came to my house and told me that ‘From today onward, you’re not the one who will be responsible for those children in terms of their food, school, clothes or anything else,'” he said.

“They told me from now on, you have to take shower and shave your hair and prepare yourself because they want to kill me because I know the language they were using.”

Garang added that he also had to leave behind his wealth comprising shops and livestock worth millions of pounds.

The ministry is yet to comment on the matter.