It has been over a month since two Kenyan pilots were seized by rebels in South Sudan after their plane crash-landed, killing one person. Captain Frank Njoroge and his co-pilot Kennedy Shamalla are being held by rebels in Akobo, in the Greater Upper Nile region. The passengers and pilots sustained minor injuries but a local woman died in the process. South Sudan gained independence in 2011 but a power struggle between former vice president Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir in 2013 led to a civil war. A peace deal collapsed in July 2016 after fighting resumed in Juba and forced then first vice president Machar into exile.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 13, 2018 11:26 UTC