Passenger still missing 12 days after Juba-Nimule road ambush

The family of a woman who went missing following the September 24 attack on a passenger bus traveling the Juba-Nimule highway is in anguish over her fate and urges authorities to find answers.

The civilian vehicle registered as SSD 089Z left Juba for Uganda before coming under gunfire from unidentified attackers who killed one person, wounded eight others, and held passengers hostage.

The gunmen shooting at the civilian vehicle hit the driver’s side, forcing him to bring the bus to a halt before it was set on fire in the middle of the highway between Nyerjebe and Kubi areas at Lokiliri Payam in Juba County.

SSPDF Spokesperson Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai told reporters that the ambush killed one passenger, wounded eight others, and abducted 14 more passengers, some of whom were released.

But 31-year-old Nyanar Kuol Deng, one of the passengers believed to have been taken hostage, has not been found and her fate is unknown, her family told Eye Radio.

Her mother, Apath Luarbong, said Nyanar was traveling to Kampala to celebrate the birthday of her niece, whom she adopted after the girl’s mother passed away during childbirth some years back.

Apath, 62, said when the bus she was using was attacked, her daughter has not resurfaced since then—a situation that has left her in grief where she has fainted on several occasions.

In an interview with Eye Radio, she calls on the government to step up efforts to trace her daughter’s whereabouts, while urging the abductors to release her.

Luarbong describes her missing daughter as a kind-hearted person who doesn’t have any enemies in her life.

“My daughter went missing for two weeks, and I don’t have any information about her whereabouts. My daughter doesn’t have enemies and knows no tribalism. She loves everyone,” she said.

“She was traveling to Kampala to do birthdays for her sister’s daughter, whom she raised. But when she was traveling,, she felt in that ambush, and now we don’t know where is.”

“She is in the hands of those people or somewhere else; now I am fainting and I don’t know what to do. I am appealing to anyone, even those who carried out the ambush, to release or return my daughter because she doesn’t have any enemies.”

When contacted for comment, Deputy Spokesperson of the South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS) Lith Wilson said she is gathering enough information in order to respond to the incident.

Following the incident, South Sudan army spokesperson, Gen. Lul, said the ambush was carried out by soldiers of the National Salvation Front (NAS).

But NAS condemned the bus attack on “innocent civilians,” distanced itself, and extended condolences to the family and relatives of the victims.

The incident occurred after two years of relatively stable security situation along the vital trade route, which land-locked South Sudan uses to import all its essential commodities from the East African region.