Journalist arrested in S. Sudan after report on Juba protest

Dec 21, 2006 (JUBA) – South Sudan security yesterday briefly arrested the Ugandan Daily Monitor reporter Grace Matsiko over a story he authored concerning last Saturday’s mutiny by SPLA soldiers in Juba town.

Matsiko spent an hour at the SPLA Intelligence headquarters in Juba town where he was interviewed by the agency before he was cautioned and freed.

Matsiko has been in Juba covering the talks between the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government.

Two intelligence operatives picked Matsiko from Civicon Oasis Hotel at 2.00 p.m, where he had gone to interview some officials. An intelligence officer told Matsiko that he was not supposed to report any issues outside the peace talks.

“What you see outside the peace talks, it’s for your own consumption. If you want to write a story get an official comment,” the officer said. He said the act Matsiko had “committed” was enough to cause his deportation but they would just caution him.

(Daily Monitor)