Church leaders in South Sudan are putting a spotlight on the growing number of disappearances in the country, two years after a priest and his driver set out on a dangerous road and were never seen again. Source: NCR Online.
“It’s a question of justice. We want the government to take its responsibility regarding the disappearance of these two. They are not alone; many people have also disappeared,” said Catholic Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of the Tombura-Yambio Diocese in South Sudan.
The Nagero-Tombura Road in South Sudan is a critical transit corridor that priests and pastors travel to bring the gospel to remote South Sudan communities, such as Western Equatoria. The road cuts through territory where armed men commit deadly robberies, kidnappings and other attacks.
It is on this road that Fr. Luke Yugue Mbokusa, pastor of the Nazareth Nagero parish, and his driver, Michael Gbeko, disappeared without trace while travelling from Nagero County to Yambio County on April 27, 2024.
Bishop Kussala released a letter on the anniversary of their disappearance, calling for action. “We need to know what went wrong. We need truth, not silence. We need accountability, not uncertainty,” he said.
In an interview, the bishop said it was unlikely the priest and driver were still alive, but he stressed he wanted the government to take responsibility regarding their disappearance.
The Rev. Tut Kony Nyang, general secretary of the South Sudan Council of Churches, an ecumenical group that represents the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian churches, among others, said death has become normalised in South Sudan.
“This is the tune of the day in South Sudan. The disappearances and the losses of people,” he said, adding that churches are raising their voices because “what we have is just a power of words and ethics”.
He also suggested that the disappearances are linked to militarised politics and ethnic divisions. “People may disappear because of the tribe they belong to,” he said, suggesting the priest may have been targeted for that reason.
Fr Mbokusa was the priest in charge of the Nazareth Nagero parish in the Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, near the country’s border with Congo and the Central African Republic. Those two African countries are also embroiled in conflict.
FULL STORY
A priest vanished two years ago. South Sudan’s churches say he’s not alone (By Frederick Nzwili, OSV News via NCR Online)
