The UN appealed on Friday for the immediate release and return of a volunteer and a child who’ve been missing since a gun battle in South Sudan at the weekend that claimed the lives of three agency workers.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), they were caught in the crossfire between two armed groups in Isebi, Morobo County, in South Sudan’s Central Equatorial region.
The volunteers had been manning an Ebola virus screening point in border areas between South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo to prevent the spread of the deadly disease.
It is understood that the four-year-old child is the son of female IOM worker who was killed, along with two male team members.
IOM spokesperson Paul Dillon said that “all possible action” was being taken to secure the release of the two individuals immediately, and that operations had been suspended for the time being in several border areas.
IOM began operations in southern Sudan in early 2005 and established the IOM South Sudan mission after the country’s independence in July 2011.
Last month, Deputy Special Representative and Humanitarian/Resident Coordinator Alain Noudehou noted concerns that if Ebola spread to South Sudan, it risked overwhelming the healthcare system.
Since the outbreak of civil war in December 2013, IOM has provided support to thousands of host communities, returnees and internally displaced people. (Source: UN News)