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Sudan Tribune

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S. Sudanese official dismisses UN report accusing army of atrocities

July 4, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s justice minister, Paulino Wanawila has strongly dismissed the United Nation’s recent report, which documentated cases of atrocities allegedly committed by the army in the oil-rich Unity state between April and June.

A soldier from the South Sudanese army stands in front of a vehicle in South Sudan’s Unity State on 12 January 2014 (AP)
A soldier from the South Sudanese army stands in front of a vehicle in South Sudan’s Unity State on 12 January 2014 (AP)
The report was based on interviews with 115 witnesses, many of whom accused the army of “raping and burning women and girls alive” in Unity state.

But the country’s justice minister remained adamant on the contents of the UN report.

“This report [was] made by some individuals who were not in the fighting [frontlines],” said Wanawila, while speaking to reporters in the capital, Juba on Friday.

“They [UN human rights officers] went there after fighting had finished and compiled a report without any eyewitness to testify on the act. So we I can’t agree anything on it,” he said, contradicting the UN’s earlier statement that none of its staff visited the warzone.

According to the world body’s damming report, evidences of rape, torching of homes and killing of women and children, were based on witnesses’ accounts in the oil-rich state.

The South Sudanese minister said that a competent court would not buy the UN report, which blamed forces loyal to President Salva Kiir of committing human rights abuses.

“Even if you take this case to the court now for judgment to be made it, the judge will throw it away. Someone can just report impossible things and say they are facts,” said Wanawila.

The nineteen months long conflict between soldiers allied to President Kiir and that those loyal to his former deputy, Riek Machar, have been accused by independent experts of committing crimes that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Thousands of people have died, millions forced away from their homes and an estimated three million others could starve to death due to lack of food, according to aid agencies.

Meanwhile, ongoing efforts by East Afican regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to end the war amicably, has not yielded any positive outcomes.

(ST)

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