JUBA – At least 30 humanitarian workers have been abducted in South Sudan in 2025, international aid groups said, as raging violence signifying an increasing trend of attacks against relief efforts in the country.
According to senior relief officials who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity – the number of kidnapped aid workers has more than doubled this year in comparison to 2024.
The report said aid agencies are concerned about the well-being of their staff and the disruption of their life-saving services in a region suffering one of the most severe humanitarian crises.
Several of those kidnapped have been released after ransom payments, but one aid worker died in captivity earlier this month, according to several sources familiar with the incident, including activist Edmund Yakani.
Fighting between the national army and opposition factions has intensified in several parts of South Sudan this year. These skirmishes mark some of the worst violence since the 2018 peace deal, which ended five years of civil war that killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced millions.
The country has become the second most dangerous place in the world to be an aid worker, with 26 humanitarian workers and contractors killed or injured this year, according to Aid Worker Security Database.
There have been 26 causalities, including 15 humanitarian workers and 11 contractors who have been killed or injured, a deeply troubling increase from 15 people the same period last year, the UN humanitarian agency in South Sudan said.
Between January and July 2025, UNOCHA said over 200 incidents of direct violence against humanitarians and assets were reported. The situation has forced 56 humanitarian workers to relocate from their operational areas.