Gunmen abducted three aid workers on the Yei-Maridi road in South Sudan’s Central Equatoria State, one of the country’s ten states, on Monday 9 November 2026, Major General Yoasa Lujang Kamba, the police chief of Yei River County, the district around Yei, said. He said the kidnappers have demanded US$8,000 for their release, and the whereabouts of the three are still unknown.
Police say the workers, a driver and two data collectors, were on a field mission to a village area near Yei, a town in the south of the country. Police gave no names or nationalities, and a second local report describes the three as South Sudanese, which we could not confirm.
Police in Yei River County say the gunmen left the vehicle on the road and later gave the driver a number for the workers’ organisation to call about a ransom.
What Happened on the Yei-Maridi Road
Lujang, who is Chief Inspector of Police, the top police officer, in Yei River County, the local government area around Yei, said six armed men stopped the vehicle on Monday in the four-mile area of the Yei-Maridi road. He said the workers, employed by an international organisation, were on a field mission to Minyori Boma, a local administrative unit about 11 miles from Yei, to collect agricultural data and run community awareness sessions.
The gunmen took the driver and the two data collectors and left the vehicle on the road, Lujang said. Church members travelling from Tore to Yei found it abandoned and reported it to counterintelligence, a security service.
Counterintelligence personnel then recovered the vehicle and handed it back to the organisation, he said. The three are believed to have been taken towards Minyori Boma, but their whereabouts remain unknown.
File photo, 2010. Merol Market in Bor, Jonglei State, another town in South Sudan. Photo: Mr leroy playpus (Tuttle), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.The Ransom Demand
Lujang said the suspected kidnappers later contacted the organisation through the driver and asked for US$8,000 to release the three workers. About two hours after the abduction, he said, he received the phone number that the kidnappers had given the driver.
The police chief said he called the number after posing as the sub-chief of Minyori Boma, and the kidnappers then switched off their phone. A relative of one of the workers told a local radio station that the abductors demanded money, without naming an amount, and that her brother sounded as if he was being tortured when he called.
A Road With a Record of Kidnappings
Insecurity Insight, a research group that tracks attacks on aid operations, lists an earlier case on the same road, citing the Aid Worker Security Database, a public record of attacks on aid workers. On 30 July 2024, armed men kidnapped two aid workers who were carrying medical supplies along the Yei-Maridi road.
We found no claim of responsibility for the latest abduction, and the police account does not say who the gunmen are. More on the political and security picture is on our South Sudan page and in our report on the election talks set to resume in Juba, the capital.
What It Means for You
Abductions of aid workers on this road have happened before, as the July 2024 case shows, so staff who travel outside Yei face a known risk. Our South Sudan coverage tracks the wider security picture.
Police did not say whether any of the three is a foreign national, and no American has been named among the victims. The organisation that employs them, which was not named, is the body the kidnappers contacted through the driver.
What Is Not Known
Police have not named the workers or their employer, and no nationalities were given. It is also unknown who the kidnappers are, whether any ransom has been paid or whether the three are safe.
Police say the workers were heading to Minyori Boma at about 9 a.m., while a second local report says it happened on Monday afternoon near Jansuk village, about four miles north-west of Yei, as they returned from Minyori Boma. The second report gives neither the number of gunmen nor the ransom amount, so those details rest on the police account.
The police details come from the chief alone, and we have not been able to confirm them independently. The next sign to watch is a police or employer statement on contact with the kidnappers or on the workers’ release, and none had been announced by 10 November.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who abducted the aid workers near Yei?
Police say unidentified gunmen seized them on Monday 9 November 2026. We found no claim of responsibility.
How much do the kidnappers want?
Police say they asked for US$8,000 for the release of the three workers. It is not known whether any payment has been made.
Where is Yei?
Yei is a town in Central Equatoria State, in southern South Sudan. The Yei-Maridi road links it to Maridi, in Western Equatoria State.
Sources: Account given by Major General Yoasa Lujang Kamba, Chief Inspector of Police, Yei River County, to local media, 10 November 2026; a relative of one of the workers, quoted by a local radio station, 10 November 2026; Insecurity Insight, South Sudan record of 30 July 2024.
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