The Archbishop Tutu Fellows are a strong network of exceptional young African leaders from 42 countries, with a shared commitment to help transform Africa, our continent. The Tutu Fellows are deeply concerned about the arbitrary arrest and detention of youth activist Dr Peter Biar Ajak and re-iterate their call for his immediate release. Peter Biar Ajak, a 2016 Tutu Fellow, is an academic and activist. He is the coordinator of South Sudan Young Leaders Forum, Senior Adviser for the International Growth Centre and Founder of the Juba-based Centre for Strategic Analyses and Research. He was also instrumental to the development of South Sudan Vision 2040.
It has been 49 days since Peter’s arbitrary detention by South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS). The fellowship notes with deep concern the revelations from a recent report by Amnesty International: A Trail of Broken Promises: Detention, Torture and Other Ill-Treatment by the National Security Service and Military Intelligence Directorate inn Juba, South Sudan Continues. The report states that “hundreds of people... have been detained under the authority of the NSS and Military Intelligence Directorate in various detention facilities… and subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment. Others have been forcefully disappeared.” This, combined with Peter’s continuous detention without due process, and the disregard for his fundamental rights under the constitution of South Sudan, give us serious concerns about his safety and wellbeing.
We join other well-meaning leaders from across the continent to call on the government of South Sudan to free Peter to enable him to continue his important work for a peaceful, stronger and prosperous South Sudan.
The Tutu Fellows stand in full solidarity with Peter Biar Ajak.
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