South Sudan has expelled the country
director of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) after security
agents held him for over 24 hours without charge, the agency
said.
Government officials in Juba were not available to comment.
NRC, which has operated in South Sudan since 2004 and
provides services such as food distribution and construction of
emergency shelters in remote areas, said no reason was given for
the action.
"The expulsion of our Country Director is a serious setback
to our humanitarian work for civilians in dire need of support,"
NRC's Secretary General Jan Egeland said in a stateement.
"To undermine our relief to vulnerable citizens' is an
affront to the international humanitarian community in South
Sudan," he added.
NRC, which did not disclose the name or nationality of its
director, urged the government to reverse its decision.
South Sudan has been wracked by violence since a political
rift between its President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and his
former deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer, led to civil war in 2013 that
has often followed ethnic lines.
The pair signed a peace agreement last year but fighting has
continued and Machar fled the country in July.
Aid agencies say violence has displaced more than three
million people, a third of whom have sought refuge in
neighbouring countries.
