By Yang Ater Yang
Former Lakes State Deputy Governor Isaiah Akol Mathiang and the state’s Minister of Animal Resources and Fisheries, Gai Magok, have been transferred to a military detention facility in Rumbek town.
The two SPLM-IO officials were first moved from Yirol East to the Mabor-duong military barracks in Rumbek East County before being transferred to the Rock City military detention facility in Rumbek, the state capital.
Their arrest came a day after Akol publicly criticised airstrikes carried out by the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) and the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) in Upper Nile State.
Rumbek East County Commissioner Zechariah Malual Anyuon said he learned about the transfer through unofficial channels, adding that county authorities were not informed by the state leadership.
“I was not informed by the leadership that political detainees were being brought to Mabor-duong military barracks,” Anyuon said.
“I later heard that the former deputy governor had been transferred from Yirol East to Rumbek East. Today, I also learned that the two SPLM-IO detainees had been moved to the Rock City military barracks in Rumbek Town, but my office received no official communication.”
He confirmed that the two officials had initially been taken to Mabor-Duong military barracks before their transfer to Rumbek Town.
Meanwhile, Lakes State Coordinator for the Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation (CEPO), Daniel Laat Kon Ater, called on the government to either charge the two officials in court or release them.
“We have learned that Dr. Isaiah Akol Mathiang has been moved from Yirol East to Rumbek and is now being held at the Rock City military detention centre,” Daniel said.
“If the government believes they committed an offence, they should be taken before a court of law. Their case is not different from those involving other SPLM-IO officials in Juba.”
Daniel argued that keeping the two officials in detention without legal proceedings violates the law.
“The prolonged detention is a violation of the law. The government should either prosecute them or release them because they have been detained for a long time without any legal action,” he said.
Authorities had not publicly commented on the transfer or the reasons for the continued detention of the two officials by the time this story was published.