Unidentified Men Abduct South Sudanese Journalist Woja Emmanuel

Emmanuel Woja

Eye Radio reporter Woja described being approached by a gunman near the outlet's office in Juba, the capital, about 9 a.m. on March 2. The gunman greeted Woja by name before pulling out a pistol and directing him into a waiting Toyota Harrier, according to Eye Radio.

Having complied, Woja entered the vehicle that contained three other men, one of whom held a pistol. During his interrogation, he was blindfolded, held all day, accused of supporting a rebel group operating in Equatoria, and was accused of supporting anti-government activists who have called for the resignation of South Sudan's president, he said.

The men drove Woja to a forested area on the outskirts of Juba, where he said that he thought they planned to kill him. However, the men and other unknown attackers engaged in a gunfight, and Woja escaped on foot.

In an interview with CPJ, Woja revealed that he could not identify any of his captors. First, he said they drove him around for about 40 minutes, and then they switched into another vehicle that played sirens as it drove. Captors of Woja moved him to two different buildings, where he was interrogated without a blindfold. 

In that interrogation, a man told Woja he had collected extensive information about him, including details of his personal life and employment. This man claimed that Woja worked for an anti-government media outlet, saying that Woja was one of three "stubborn" journalists at the station.

Moreover, the man accused Woja of supporting the National Salvation Front, an armed group fighting the South Sudanese government in the Equatoria region, supporting the Peoples' Coalition for Civil Action, a group of activists calling for the resignation of President Salva Kiir, and posting negative opinions about the government on social media, without citing specific posts.

In an interview with CPJ, Woja denied supporting rebel groups and stressed that he was entitled to express his opinions online. During the interrogation, the man forced Woja to drink a substance that smelled like alcohol. Woja alleged that he then became disoriented and that the interrogator continued to accuse him of the same things.

In 2016, authorities forced Eye Radio to stop broadcasting, as CPJ reported at the time. Eye Radio is an independent media outlet that attracted the ire of authorities previously. Earlier this month, an Eye Radio reporter was among a group of eight journalists briefly detained by intelligence officers in Juba.