David Abuoi
aka (Gabrielle) Malak AROK David Abuoi
aka (Gabrielle) Malak AROK 
David was last seen on the morning of 10 July 2012 in the Canberra Civic area. David had been visiting friends in Canberra from Sydney. David had recently moved to Canberra from Sydney. He is known to frequent and stay at Bega and Allawah Flats in Canberra and has friends and family in Sydney. Police have received information that David also uses the name Gabrielle and/or Malak. Police hold serious concerns for his welfare. If you have information that may assist police to locate David please call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Updated
ACT Policing say they have concerns for a Canberra man who has been missing for more than a month.
David Abuoi, 35, was last seen on London Circuit in Civic.
A cousin reported him missing a week ago.
Mr Abuoi is African in appearance, approximately 175 centimetres tall, with a slim build, and dark short hair.
Mr Aboui's family say they have not heard from him in over a month.
Tabitha and William Ajak still remember a meal they shared with their uncle Malak Arok back in July 2011.
The three had come to Australia together as refugees from South Sudan in 2005 looking for a better life, and a way to support their families back home.
"July 2011 you know, that's the last time we shared the meal together and chatted," Tabitha said.
A year later, Mr Arok was released from protective custody from an ACT Police Watch House on the morning of July 10, 2012.
He has never been seen since.
"We really very keen to know what happened to Malak," Ms Ajak said.
"We're pleading to the community, if anyone has information or knows anything about Malak, we're very happy for that person to come up with an information and share with us.
"Please. We're pleading for the remains of Malak to be located so we [can] just honour his soul."
Ms Ajak said Mr Arok, who also went by the name David Abuoi, was the only male in his Sudanese family, who relied on him, and they have been constantly trying to find out what happened to him.
"In terms of our traditional and any culture you know, when you [are] aware that someone is dead, you have to conduct a ceremony to pray for the soul of that person," Ms Ajak said.
"We and the family overseas, [are] all in dilemma, because we can't do anything."
Yesterday, ACT Policing conducted a search of an area in Mount Ainslie with around 30 police including forensics, as part of their investigation into the disappearance of Mr Arok.
Detective Inspector Stephen Ladd said police couldn't reveal what information had led them to search that area.
"Obviously, this is still an investigation that's been ongoing now for 12 years,"Detective Inspector Ladd said.
"Suffice to say that it was pertinent for us to now conduct a search at Mount Ainslie, trying to find evidence around his disappearance or whereabouts.
"We're looking for any evidence that would suggest that he was up there, whether he still may be there, or anything that might lead to where he might be now."
Detective Inspector Ladd couldn't confirm whether police believe Mr Arok was murdered, or if they believe he met some other fate.
"We treat all these long term missing persons as homicides," he said.
"We need to make sure that someone hasn't met with foul play, and that's why we continue to keep investigating these matters."
ACT Policing are appealing to anyone with information that may help locate Mr Arok to contact them.
In the meantime, the Ajaks will continue to remember their uncle as a man "with a big heart" who was "always smiling".
"Malak is special," Mr Ajak said.
"He likes to socialise with community in the ACT, the Sudanese community, everybody known him.
"He's a … person that loved to be around his community, family, that's what I remember, and he's a great gentleman."
Police suspect foul play may have been involved in the disappearance of a respected member of the Sudanese community who vanished from Canberra 13 years ago.
David Abuoi, also known as Malak Arok, was 35 years old when he left the ACT Watch House in Civic on the morning of 10 July 2012 and has not been seen since.
He was a Sudanese refugee who mostly lived in the ACT between 2005 and 2012 before moving to Sydney with his family, then returned to visit friends in Canberra when he vanished.
Over the last decade, police looked at whether his disappearance was due to misadventure or suicide and decided both were unlikely.
Now they suspect foul play was involved and are calling for information that could help them solve the case as part of National Missing Persons Week.
“He came here for a better life, and I think that we owe it to him and his family to come up with some answers as to what has occurred,” Detective Leading Senior Constable Nicci Linden said.
“It’s important that people know that he was a respected member of the Sudanese community and considered an elder.
“He was known to his friends as Malak, and he came here to look for a peaceful place to live because he lived in South Sudan during the civil wars and [experienced] hardships, extreme hardships that Australians probably couldn’t conceive of.”
She and Detective Sergeant Craig Marriott are part of ACT Policing’s Unsolved Homicide Team and have been looking into Mr Abuoi’s disappearance.
Detective Sergeant Marriott said the four main causes of a disappearance in long-term missing persons cases were death by misadventure, suicide, a change of identity or foul play.
When it came to Mr Abuoi, police thought misadventure and suicide were unlikely, and there was no reason for him to change his identity, which meant they were left with the latter.
“But also, there are circumstances within that community, within that Sudanese community, that raise the spectre of foul play,” Detective Sergeant Marriott said.
He would not go into their current leads, but said police wanted to gain an understanding of the broader circle of people Mr Abuoi associated with, such as those who hadn’t come forward yet.
“We know that David has been spoken about, that his disappearance is known,” he said.
Mr Abuoi’s signs of life checks – such as records of him using transport, banking or medical facilities – were discontinued within days of his disappearance. This meant there was nothing to indicate he was alive after that time.
Thirty police officers searched Mt Ainslie last year, partly due to the mountain’s proximity to Civic, but found nothing of relevance to the investigation.
Detective Leading Senior Constable Linden said Mr Abuoi lived a very simple life contained within the Sudanese community. Even after his family moved to Sydney, he continued to socialise in Canberra with the community he had established.
She said by 2011 and 2012, his life had become a very small world due to his mental and physical health conditions, as well as the people he was choosing to socialise with.