South Sudanese rebels have kidnapped eight locals working for a U.S. charity and are demanding aid deliveries as ransom, a military spokesman said on Monday, as food in the famine-hit nation looks increasingly likely to become a weapon of war, Reuters reports.
According to the report, Brigadier General Lul Ruai Koang said that the aid workers were taken from a village near Mayendit, about 420 miles (680 km) northeast of the capital of Juba.
Koang said that the rebels attacked and abducted eight local staff from Samaritan’s Purse and they are being held to ransom, demanding the organization takes aid to them.
The charity confirmed the kidnapping in a statement saying the victims have not been harmed but denied a ransom had been demanded.
Meanwhile South Sudan rebels have since denied the reports of its troops kidnapping the eight local workers.
“We do not have any relation with this incident,” a spokesperson for the rebels told Sudan Tribune Monday, adding “This is a mere rumour spread by the government”, Sudan Tribune reports.
Last week, South Sudan announced plans to charge a levy of $10,000 per foreign aid worker, which with the danger of abduction, could hurt efforts to help the hungry.
U.N. Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan Nicholas Haysom said that the move is likely to lead to an exodus of humanitarian workers in a country that is already facing a dire humanitarian situation, this according to Reuters.
