Juba, South Sudan
June 7, 2022 — At least fourteen South Sudanese children of which some are identified to be children and relatives of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Peter Mayen Majongdit, have been deported by the government of Kenya despite holding diplomatic passports and other documentations.
The deported kids were received by the country’s deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deng Dau.
Last week, the Kenyan government deported 14 children related to the same Minster Mayen.
The children, who included seven girls and seven boys, were handed over to the South Sudan government at Juba International Airport by the Kenyan authorities for reasons that are yet to be clarified.
In March, Kenyan police detained the children and Mayen’s brother on suspicion of child trafficking.
Kenyan media reported that the children were renting an apartment in Nairobi without a caregiver prompting Kenyan authorities to suspect child trafficking.
They were reportedly taken to Kenya to study; however, there were no parents or guardians in the complex.
The deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deng Dau, and Major General Amou Aneith Reec, the Director of the security Interpol, received the children aged between six and seventeen, with the eldest being 21 years old.
Samuel Nandwa, the Kenyan Ambassador to South Sudan handed the children over on behalf of his government.
“I am here on behalf of the government of Kenya and of course, the representatives who have just accompanied the children to receive and of course handover this child to the government of South Sudan, which we are formally now doing, now request the government of South Sudan as per what we did in the room,” Nandwa told media yesterday.
For his part, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Deng Dau said they officially received the deported kids.
“We want to announce that we have officially received fourteen children in good health and in good mind,” said Deng Dau.
“We want to hand them now to their parents so that they can now go back to their residents here in Juba because they are residents of Juba”, he added.
“With me, I have the director of Interpol and also the director of immigration that has come to attend and the ambassador in charge of African Affairs from the ministry of foreign affairs.”Deng Dau reiterated.
