Students protest mistreatment of South Sudanese in Egypt

A handful of students of University of Juba have protested against the alleged abduction, torture, bullying and serial killing of South Sudanese students in Cairo.

The students stormed the Egyptian Embassy in Juba to express dissatisfaction, calling for an end to what they called “unfair treatment” of South Sudanese by some Egyptians.

There have been recent reports of killing of South Sudanese in Cairo, most of victims were alleged to have been targeted for organ harvesting.

Relatives of the victims say most of their beloved ones were found dead, without organs such as kidneys and livers.

But Monday’s protest  was sparked by the disappearance of Gong Acuil Angook-a university student in Cairo who went missing on December 8, as kidnapped when he went shopping.

According to Jieng Malek Agei one of the student protesters, Acuil is being kept in detention by the abductors in an unknown location.

He called on the Egyptian and South Sudanese authorities to rescue the student and make Egypt a safe place for South Sudanese.

“We are here peacefully telling the people of Egypt that we are not happy with what is happening to our people in Cairo,” Jieng Malek Agei told Eye Radio on Wednesday.

“They are not treating us like brothers. There is organ trafficking happening to South Sudanese and there is random killing of South Sudanese whereby we don’t even know and no report had ever been released about what is happening and the government never even taken a position to express the feeling on what is happening to the people of South Sudan in Egypt,” the angry student added.

Another student said he joined the protest because the Egyptian government has been silent about the missing student.

“We came here to show the world and the people of South Sudan that our brother is in Egypt he has been kidnapped and no one has taken step to find him,” Marko Mawien  said.

The students said there have been numerous incidents of ridicule, and mistreatment of South Sudanese in Egypt, mentioning the bullying of a 13-year-old South Sudanese boy by two Egyptian men in Cairo three weeks ago.

A video that has been widely shared on social media showed the refugee student-John Manut ridiculed and pushed around in Cairo.

The incident sparked a public outrage with social media users calling for the two Egyptians to be arrested for mockery and racism.

In June this year, another  university student Leek Jok Lual died shortly after being released from prison by the Egyptian police and his body found dumped in the Nile River.

The Egyptian Embassy is yet to comment on the alleged mistreatment of South Sudanese.