00:00A new and worrying trend in South Sudan, the kidnapping of aid workers for ransom.
00:07Since the start of the year, more than 30 South Sudanese aid workers have been abducted,
00:13humanitarian officials say. That's more than double the number kidnapped in all of 2024.
00:20Several of those abducted have been released after ransom payments,
00:23but one person died in captivity earlier this month.
00:27The UN has long designated South Sudan one of the most dangerous places for humanitarian workers.
00:34But the surge in kidnaps for ransom could make humanitarian work impossible
00:39in a country facing one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises.
00:45In July, the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières suspended operations in two South Sudanese counties
00:51after one of its staff members was taken at gunpoint.
00:55Fighting between the National Army and opposition factions has surged this year,
01:00marking some of the worst violence since the 2018 peace deal that ended the civil war
01:05and formed a fragile unity government.
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