Beat Odermatt, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South Sudan, reports that two Adventist Global Mission pioneers were caught up in the violence. One of them, Joseph Logu, was beaten, and both were robbed.
The United Nations asked all foreigners to leave South Sudan at the end of September, following fears of an imminent military strike in the area. The conflict is part of decades of civil war between the Muslim-controlled government of Sudan, and the southern non-Muslim rebels.
Fleeing expatriates encountered deserting members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army on a pillage spree in the liberated areas of the south. Beat Odermatt, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South Sudan, reports that two Adventist Global Mission pioneers were caught up in the violence. One of them, Joseph Logu, was beaten, and both were robbed. Logu has been hospitalized with internal injuries. His colleague, Michael Mannesh, escaped injury.
The United Nations has not yet declared the region safe for foreigners to return. Deserters are in control of the mainland access route into Western Equitoria, and are terrorizing several towns in the region.