Who abducted missing South Sudanese activist?
Morris Mabior Awikjok Bak. Mr Bak, an activist and a former oil company employee, who was allegedly abducted on February 4, had fled South Sudan for Kenya in April 2021.
The family of a South Sudan refugee who had sought asylum in Kenya have reported him as missing, weeks after he was allegedly deported from Nairobi.
According to reports, Morris Mabior Awikjok Bak was abducted by “armed men wearing police uniform” at his home along Kangundo road in Nairobi on February 4 after which a local newspaper in Juba reported that he had been extradited to face charges of “abusing government officials.”
The Dawn newspaper cited sources within South Sudan’s National Security Service.
His family told Human Rights Watch (HRW) that on the day he was allegedly abducted, his wife was also beaten and that so far efforts to trace his whereabouts both in Nairobi and Juba have yielded no fruits.
“When you approach someone for answers and they give you nothing, it leaves you feeling vulnerable. It is terrible like you have no rights,” one of Mr Bak’s four wives told HRW.
According to HRW, Mr Bak, also an activist and a former oil company employee, fled South Sudan for Kenya in April 2021.
“He had reported receiving threats from officials and leaders from his home area of Tonj, in Warrap state, whom he criticized. When he went missing in Nairobi, he was a refugee registered with Kenya’s Department of Refugee Affairs,” HRW said in a statement.
Attempts to get a response from the Refugee secretariat were unsuccessful, calls and texts had not been responded to by the time of going to press.
HRW is calling on both governments to come clean on Mr Bak’s whereabouts to end the anguish of his family.
“If Kenyan authorities were involved in Bak’s “disappearance”, and if they facilitated his forced return to South Sudan, Kenya would be violating its obligations towards refugees and undermining its regional images as a country that seeks to protect human rights.”
HRW adds, “Should South Sudan wish to extradite someone, the process should be legal and transparent, conducted before an independent and impartial court, and should comply with the principle of nonrefoulement.”
As a party to the 1951 United Nations and 1969 African Refugee conventions, Kenya has committed itself to uphold the rights of refugees and asylum seekers.
Countries hosting refugees and asylum seekers are also responsible for providing protection and ensuring their physical security.
