Road construction. | Courtesy.

The Minister of Information in Jonglei State said the government officials allegedly detained over a week ago, were released on Monday.

On May 6, 2023, a 10-member government delegation visited Gadiang to assess the progress of an ongoing road construction in the area.

After their visit, some media outlets reported that the officials including state ministers were held hostage by some disgruntled youth guarding the roadwork.

The local youth estimated to be at around 500 – had signed a casual contract with the ARC construction company to protect construction workers in the highly insecure Gadiang area.

They reportedly detained the officials to gain leverage in the negotiation of their unpaid wages.

However, the State’s Minister of Information Elizabeth Nyadak denies the allegation that the officials were detained.

Speaking to Eye Radio this afternoon, Nyadak said the two parties reached a consensus leading to the return of the officials to the State capital, Bor.

“It was not actually detention. You know the word detention is different, it may be somebody forcing you to stay with or not to move,” Nyadak said.

The information minister said the ten government officials willingly allowed themselves to remain there until the agreement was reached.

“Those government officials and the youth agreed that they will not go back to Bor until they pay the youth in the whole amount that they want. It happened that way and the government officials came back on Monday. They are already in the State as we are talking now.”