SOUTH SUDAN: Nearly a Week, Fr. Luke, Mr. Gbeko from Tombura Yambio in South Sudan, Still Missing
Photo of the Missing Fr. Luka Yugue, Tombura-Yambio Diocese, South Sudan
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA and Ginaba Lino
The weight of uncertainty grows heavier in the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, South Sudan where Fr. Luke Yugue and his driver Mr Michael Gbeko, have been missing for about a week and the increased search hasn’t yielded much.
In a letter addressed to South Sudan’s Head of State President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Monday, April 29, Bishop Edwardo Barani Hiiboro Kussala appeals for support in the search for the priest and driver.
“Your Excellency, I am deeply concerned about his disappearance and the state of affairs in Tombura County. You have to come in directly and impose a state of emergency,” the Local Ordinary of Tombura-Yambio Diocese pleads with the government adding, “As a church, we appeal to Your Excellency to help us bring Fr. Luka and those with him alive.”
According to Bishop Hiiboro in his letter seeking intervention from the president for the duo who went missing between Nagero County and Tombura County, the Wau road on Saturday, April 27, he said: “I have written to the Governor of Western Equatoria State on the matter and sought help from the county authority of the area without success. I am convinced that at this critical moment, the President of the Republic is the only person with the power to save and bring back the priest and his driver to us.”
Fr. Luke had left for a pastoral mission to serve the people of God in Nagero County but lost contact with the people to date. The desperate Prelate narrated, “The area where he and his driver went missing is under the control of the SPLM-IO (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition) forces.
Before the President’s letter which was also copied to the 1st Vice President who doubles as the chairman of the SPLM/A(IO) Dr. Riek Macha and also copied to the chairman of Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops Conference his Eminence Stephen Cardinal Ameyu, of Juba Archdiocese, Bishop Hiiboro had written to the State Government of Western Equatoria State too.
In a different letter addressed to the Christian faithful of St. Daniel Comboni Catholic Parish, Maringindo, and Nazareth Catholic Parish Nagero on the same appeal, the Bishop has asked the Christians, to pray for the safety of Fr. Luke and Mr. Gbeko that the Creator may help the diocese find them, and to be back sound and alive.
He further asked prayers for the two parishes, the whole county of Nagero, the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, for the Bishop himself and all the priests and faithful. Additionally, “Pray for peace in your hearts, our hearts, and the hearts of everyone in your community, and do everything in your capacity that can bring peace, understanding, forgiveness, and growth.”
“It is not easy for the Christian community from Yambio, his relatives, his fellow priests, or myself to move from Yambio to Nagero to search in the bushes for him,” the Bishop noted and posed, “Can you as the two parishes search and find out where your priest Fr. Luke Yugue is? Days are going and if he is dead find his body for us, if you have any information on where we can find him, please help me and help the church.”
He appreciated all who are making efforts for the search including the commissioner of Nagero adding that the priest loved working among the people of Nagero.
According to the county commissioner Mr. Matthew Mabenge, in a separate statement dated Wednesday, May 1, the duo left Nagero at noon by road on a motorbike for Tambura.
The commissioner narrated that after getting the information about the disappearance of the priest and the motorcycle rider, he called an emergency security meeting with the organized forces and came up with a resolution that the forces must find their whereabouts but so far, their efforts have been futile.
The commissioner has assured the public that the county authorities are still planning to send more forces for the search highlighting that the two may not be alive because such incidences have happened on several occasions.
“According to my observation, they aren’t alive because such has happened several times. When 17 people were abducted from Mabenge, we failed to get their bodies. The same happened to Joseph Opoya, a Ugandan national; we tried to search for him for one month, but there was nothing and this seems to be the same scenario,” he shared his thoughts.
