JUBA—Presidential aspirant and chairperson of the National Alliance of Political Parties Kornelio Kon Ngu has been allegedly blocked by security officials at Juba International Airport from travelling to Wau, Western Bahr el Ghazal State on Tuesday.
Kon was travelling to Wau to attend 40th-Day prayers for his sister and also meet party members as they prepare for the December elections.
Gabriel Alazir, the alliance’s spokesperson, said Kon had completed airport procedures and was waiting to board his flight when a security official informed him that his journey had been prohibited by order of the country’s highest authority.
“He said that this is a decision of the highest authority of the state,” Alazir told journalists at a press conference in Juba on Tuesday, October 13, 2026.
Alazir said the alliance had not received a written order or an explanation for the restriction. He reiterated that Kon was travelling to Wau to attend funeral prayers for his sister and hold meetings with party leaders preparing for the December elections.
“We want to know why the candidate of the National Alliance of Political Parties was prevented from travelling, even though we explained to the security forces at the airport that his first visit was to attend the prayers of his sister, whom we lost,” Alazir said.
He called on the authorities to explain the decision and reconsider the restriction, arguing that political candidates should be able to travel freely within the country to organise their campaigns ahead of the elections.
Airport security personnel could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
The incident comes days after President Salva Kiir Mayardit reportedly reiterated a requirement for officials holding constitutional offices to obtain presidential permission before travelling abroad.
Kiir restated the requirement during an expanded caretaker government meeting in Juba, where he briefed officials on his recent diplomatic visits to Kenya and South Africa.
This followed the circulation of a document dated October 3 that reportedly restricted foreign travel by senior government officials and members of the organised forces for three months without presidential permission.
Alazir said the alliance respected state institutions but insisted that the authorities must also respect citizens’ personal and political freedoms.
“We in the National Alliance of Political Parties respect all the institutions of the state and all the decisions issued by the leadership of the state. But we also want to say that the state must also respect the personal freedoms and the political freedoms of the citizens,” he said.
He called on the government to issue clear, publicly accessible regulations explaining the circumstances under which political leaders and other citizens could be prevented from travelling.
“Let them make this pamphlet and give it to all the people so that they can know that there are 1, 2, 3 reasons that prevent him from travelling,” Alazir said.
He added that the restriction could affect the alliance’s election preparations, saying political parties needed to reach supporters across the country to organise campaigns and prepare their bases.
Alazir also cited the domestic travel of other political figures as evidence that movement within the country was part of normal election preparations.
President Kiir dissolved the Transitional Government of National Unity and the country’s legislative assemblies on September 22, dismissing the five vice-presidents and forming a caretaker government to oversee state affairs.
The dissolution came three months before the scheduled December 22 elections, which the government has said it intends to hold after years of delays in South Sudan’s political transition.