Family pleads for pilot’s release

The family of a Kenyan pilot detained in Juba on allegations of smuggling out a former South Sudan minister and associate of rebel leader Dr Riek Machar is pleading for his release and safe return.

The pilot, Francis Ruto Langat, 50, who had worked as a pilot with Aberdair Aviation for a month, was arrested a little over three weeks ago in Juba on allegations of aiding Mr Peter Adwok Nyaba, a former minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research in South Sudan, escape to Kenya.

The former minister later left Kenya for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he issued a media statement and is understood to have moved on to South Africa where he joined other leaders of the rebel movement.

Mr Langat is said to be in detention alongside his co-pilot, a national of South Sudan, in Jebel, a notorious national security headquarters in Juba where survivors have alleged being tortured.

The pilot’s family said that his personal belongings, including his licence, mobile phone and laptop, were confiscated by the South Sudan authorities. “We have not been able to communicate with him since and the family is very much worried,” the family told the Sunday Nation.

The South Sudan authorities also impounded the aircraft (registration number 5Y WMM) belonging to Aberdair Aviation. The airline has offices at Nairobi’s Wilson Airport.

Attempts by Kenyan Foreign ministry officials led by Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed and Kenya’s ambassador to South Sudan, Mr Cleland Leshore, to secure the pilot’s release have not been successful.

The Sunday Nation has learnt that Kenyan authorities have formally written to their South Sudan counterparts, but nothing seems to have happened. In addition, two officials from the Kenyan embassy in Juba have visited Mr Langat. 

When the family went to the Foreign ministry they were informed that the Jebel director, Mr Akol, had opened an investigation and the file had been forwarded to President Salva Kiir for further direction. Mr Akol, like a number of top South Sudanese government and rebel officials, has his family based in Nairobi.

According to South Sudan chargé d’affaires in Kenya, Mr James Morgan, Mr Langat, who frequently flies the Juba-Wilson Airport route, had last month airlifted Mr Nyaba from Rumbek to Nairobi without official clearance.

Mr Morgan said that Mr Nyaba, a hero of the independence struggle, had been released from house arrest a while ago after last year’s attempted coup. However, he was not allowed to leave Juba without government permission.

But on the day he escaped from South Sudan, Mr Morgan explained, Mr Nyaba had sought and obtained permission from the Juba government to travel to Rumbek to attend a friend’s burial from where he flew out.

“The plane left Juba to Rumbek from where the pilot met Mr Nyaba and they flew out to Wilson Airport without getting clearance and on to Addis Ababa where he issued a media statement,” the chargé d’affaires said.

Posed as a patient

But the pilot’s family claims Mr Nyaba had posed as a patient who was travelling to Nairobi to seek medical attention. As such, the pilot’s family said, he had no way of knowing that his passenger was a rebel leader or even whether he was under watch by the government of President Kiir.

“From what we gathered the passenger had documents to prove he was travelling to Kenya to seek medical attention. Our brother had absolutely no way of telling a rebel from a pro-government person,” the family said.

The pilot was arrested when he flew back to Juba and is said to be helping the South Sudan authorities with investigations, said Mr Morgan.

“Investigation is ongoing to find out if he got involved in smuggling a rebel out of Juba. I am not an investigator to tell when he could be released, but this is not going to be a big issue because once investigations are complete the pilot will be free to leave Juba,” said Mr Morgan.

However, the envoy added that Mr Langat’s licence to fly to Juba will be revoked. In addition, his aviation company could also be barred from South Sudan.

Mr Langat’s family is appealing to President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto intervene and bring back the pilot.

Mr Langat is the second Kenyan pilot to be detained in South Sudan this year. In June another pilot, Philip Kipkoech Murgor, was held in Yuai, a rebel-controlled area in Jonglei State. He was released after the Kenyan Government intervened.