Pilots detained in South Sudan arrive home

The two pilots had been in South Sudan since January 7, when their plane, hired by a Juba-based non-government organisation to ferry staff to Upper Nile state. [Photo: Boniface Okendo, Standard]

After 44 days of uncertainty, two-year-old Nathan Shamalla drew the curtain open and peered through the window to watch the plane that was flying his father back home land.

Seated in the VIP room at Wilson Airport, the toddler, who almost rubbed shoulders with Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma, stood on a leather sofa and craned his neck, determined to see his father.