Some of the South Sudanese mothers forcibly deported from Sudan are reunited with their children in Renk County, Upper Nile State, today (Tuesday). The children were separated from their families last week during the deportation. (Courtesy Photo)

The Deputy Speaker of the National Legislative Assembly has directed four parliamentary committees to investigate reports that South Sudanese women are being deported from Sudan without their children.

The order from Hon. Parmena Awerial Aluong followed concerns raised during an extraordinary sitting of parliament on Thursday, where Hon.

Early this week, Renk Commissioner Diing Deng Lueth said the more than 100 women were reportedly arrested in Sudanese cities, put on buses, and sent south, only to be separated from their infants and young children in a traumatic act that local authorities are calling a violation of human rights.

He then took immediate action, halting the buses at the border to prevent further incidents of mothers being separated from their children.

Sudanese Official Cites “Joint Campaign”

Lieutenant Ali Saleh Bilal, head of the Sudanese delegation that transported the deportees, explained that he was acting on direct orders.

“According to the instructions of the Director of the Foreigners Department in Sudan, I was tasked with transporting these citizens to the southern Joda area,” Bilal said. He explained that the action was the result of a “joint campaign against foreigners in the country.”

Bilal confirmed that he had handed over a list of names to the South Sudanese side, noting that some women were with their children while “others were without their children.”

He is now under an obligation by the authorities to return the women to Sudan to retrieve their children before bringing them back to the border.

During a Thursday extraordinary meeting, lawmaker Stephen Bol Lay described the alleged deportations as “inhuman” and urged Sudanese authorities to end the practice.

Hon. Bol told lawmakers that South Sudanese nationals are being forcibly removed from Khartoum to the border town of Renk, with many women reportedly separated from their children in the process.

In response, the Deputy Speaker tasked the Committees on Foreign Affairs, Humanitarian Affairs, Human Rights, and Defense and Security to launch a joint investigation into the matter.

He instructed the committees to coordinate with relevant government institutions, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to address the issue urgently.