US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Lao authorities on Sunday to

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Lao authorities on Sunday to step up their investigation “without further delay” into the disappearance of a prominent Lao activist 100 days ago.

Sombath Somphone was last seen being taken away from a police post by two unidentified individuals in December.

The United States has sought more information from Laos on its investigation into Sombath’s disappearance, which has sent jitters through the activist network in the secretive one-party communist state.

Lao authorities have suggested he might have been abducted over a personal dispute but have denied having any information about his whereabouts.

The top US diplomat noted that despite Laos’s growing integration into the community of nations, “Mr Sombath’s disappearance resurrects memories of an earlier era when unexplained disappearances were common.”

The campaigner won the 2005 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership for his work in poverty reduction and sustainable development in a country that remains one of Southeast Asia’s poorest nations.

The secretive one-party communist state — which exerts total control over the media and does not tolerate criticism — has in recent years gradually given local civil society groups more room to operate.

Source AFP