Activist Kuel Aguer suffering from nerve complications inside NSS detention – family

JUBA – The family of former governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State Kuel Aguer has appealed to President Salva Kiir Mayardit to allow their father to travel for medical check abroad after they revealed that Aguer is currently suffering from nerve complications in the back and the legs.

The former state governor turned activists was arrested by members of South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS) in July last year after he was accused of participating in the formation of an anti-government group that called for President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Machar to resign or face popular uprising.

“Yes, my father is still at Juba Main Prison and he complains of illness in the leg and in the back because some wounds appeared there and we do not know what it is but we have already sent X-rays from Khartoum to Jordan and the doctor said my father might have nerve complications and that he needs an operation,” Kuel’s daughter Adhel said in an interview with Radio Tamazuj.

“My father also went to Nairobi and was told the same thing and upon his arrival from Nairobi to Juba, he was immediately detained. We are trying our level best to take the medical statement that came from Jordan to Marial Benjamin who will inform the president about his (Aguer’s) current health condition because there is nobody to support us to make that happen,” Adhel added.

She appealed to President Salva Kiir Mayardit to release her father and indicated that her father won’t flee.

“I am appealing to the president to pardon my father to go for further medication and continue his case later on and we are here to assure the authorities that our father is not going to abandon us if he is given permission to seek medical treatment,” she said.

For his part, prominent activist Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director of the Community Empowerment and Progress Organization (CEPO) said the detention of Aguer and other activists is illegal and that people should be free to talk and stressed that some prominent people in the person of those with military might and wider political support are only allowed to talk at the expense of the poor.

“First of all, the arrest of dignitaries due to their own viewpoints is wrong. It is a must for the authorities to respect any South Sudanese who expresses (views). For example, there is an ongoing debate among president Kiir, Kuol Manyang, and Daniel Awet whether the president resigns or continues with the leadership, but none of them have been arrested because they have interests and powers that law is afraid of but the weak dignitaries without military-political backgrounds are always arrested if they express their views,” he said.

“In the case of former Northern Bahr el Ghazal Governor Kuel Aguer, he is a prominent politician and he was confined after he was accused of signing PCCA declaration but he is supposed to express himself and if he messed up against South Sudan laws, then legal masseurs should apply,” he added.