South Sudan activist tells of abduction, beating

Juba: An activist in graft-riddled South Sudan was abducted outside his home, bound and badly beaten in a three-day ordeal after calling for corrupt officials to be named, he said on Thursday.

Deng Athuai, head of the South Sudan Civil Society group, led a campaign to uncover the names of 75 former and current officials accused by President Salva Kiir of stealing $4 billion (Dh14.68 billion) from the grossly impoverished nation.

“I found myself tied down on a big chair in a dark room,” Athui said, describing the questioning after he was grabbed from near his home in the capital Juba on July 4. The attackers bound him and put a bag over his head.

“They were saying: ‘Tell us who is paying you and telling you to come and cause a crisis in this country’,” he added.

Athui survived only after refusing to hide from passing soldiers as his attackers marched him through a forest.

“They told me to lie down as the military was coming and I refused so they ran away — they took me to that forest and I don’t know if they meant to kill me,” he said.

He was eventually taken to hospital after making it to the roadside — beaten, bound, gagged and with the bag on his head.

But threats on colleagues have not stopped.