Human rights commission denies rejecting UNMISS report on Jonglei state
October 2, 2012 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s human rights commission has strongly denied report published by the Sudan Tribune that it had rejected the human rights violations reported in Jonglei state by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
A news article reported from Bor which was published on 28th September and attributed to the commission’s chairperson, Laurence Korbandy, during his visit to the Jonglei state’s capital, Bor, said the commission’s chairperson described UNMISS report on violations in the state involving the South Sudan’s army as “100% nonsense.”
However, in a press release issued on Tuesday, October 2, 2012, and signed by the chairperson of the human rights commission, Laurence Korbandy, he categorically denied the assertion, saying this was never the position of the commission on the report.
In the press release a copy of which was seen by the Sudan Tribune, Korbandy explained that the position of the commission in Bor meeting in the presence of UNMISS clearly stated that the commission could neither deny nor confirm the UNMISS report on the alleged human rights violations because the commission had not been on the ground in Jonglei state to verify the report.
“On behalf of South Sudan Human Rights Commission I want to bring it to the attention of readers of the Sudan Tribune that the words attributed to the Chair of the Commission as describing the UNMISS Jonglei Report as “nonsense” is utterly false. At no time did the Chair of the Commission make such assertion,” partly reads the statement.
Korbandy further called for thorough investigations into the alleged human rights abuses, some of which are directed to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) which conducts disarmament of civil populations in the state.
The UNMISS report includes torture, rape and looting on the civil population and their property in the state, particularly in the Pibor County which is inhabited by the Murle ethnic group.
(ST)