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Anglican Dean abducted amid fears of persecution in South Sudan
By Hassan John
http://www.globalchristiannews.org/
6th January 2017
The Anglican Archbishop of Sudan, the former caretaker bishop of the Diocese of Malakal and of the Diocese of Yei, has mobilized heavily armed uniformed soldiers or militias for personal protection following increasing threats to his life and other church leaders in south Sudan.
This step-up in security followed the disappearance earlier this week of the Dean of Lui Cathedral, the Ven Noel Knight.
A spokesman for the Cathedral, the Rev Evans Mustafa, appealed to South Sudan National Security agency to release the Dean of the Cathedral. He was abducted by an unknown gunman believed to be a South Sudan Security operative.
Though it was not clear who abducted the Dean, church leaders believed the government was behind the disappearance.
A south Sudanese elder, the Rev Dr Wesley Bokati Natana Abraham, based in Nairobi, Kenya, added his voice to appeals for the Dean's release. He said, "On behalf of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan Diocese of Lui and on my own behalf as a concerned South Sudanese elder, I appeal to the government of South Sudan National Security Agency to immediately and safely release Noel Knight, who is a servant of God and has done nothing wrong to be arrested."
Following the imminent threats to their lives, other bishops, who have raised any opposition against the trend in the South Sudan politics or on the suffering of vulnerable people in camps, civilians have declared "that it would be better to die than to be alive and silenced as situation continues to deteriorate."
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