January 15th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan government has been urged to release a journalist detained in Torit after covering a story about last week’s US sanctioning of the country’s First Vice President Taban Deng Gai.
South Sudan’s national security service last week arrested a radio journalist in Torit after covering a news story that reported last week’s United States sanctioning of First Vice President Taban Deng Gai.
The US accused Taban of human rights abuses including the killing of two prominent government critics and members of South Sudan’s main armed opposition group, SPLM-IO.
The US treasury also accused him of carrying out divisive policies among the opposition that has prolonged the ongoing conflict.
In a statement on Sunday, the Center for Peace and Advocacy (CPA), a South Sudan human rights group based in Uganda, urged the government of President Salva Kiir to release the detained journalist saying it affects the dissemination of the revitalized peace agreement signed in September 2018.
“The Center for Peace and advocacy (CPA) a South Sudanese human rights-based in Juba. Â CPA is deeply concerns about the arresting of the journalist in the country. Human Rights are the rights a person has simply because she or she is a human being. Human rights are held by all persons equally, universally, and forever in regardless of their political affiliation, sex, gender and color,” the statement extended to Nyamilepedia partly reads.
“Thus, there is a need for wide spread dissemination of the R-ARCSS to make sure that the people of South Sudan including the IDPs and refugees understand and support it. Based on ongoing training for unify forces, it is important to note that there is a need for a greater effort to create awareness among the people of South Sudan including the South Sudanese Refugees in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan for them to support the present Peace Agreement (the R-ARCSS) as they will be able to understand,” the statement added.
It further urged the government in Juba to “respect the freedom of expression all journalists in the country and Revitalized Peace Agreement on Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) on September 12, 2018 and it does not gives South Sudan government to arrest any citizen that does their work through media publication and exercising their rights within their jurisdiction.”
“CPA’s National Coordinator, Ter Manyang Gatwech, it’s time for journalists to disseminate the peace agreement through writing and publication of information in the country. We are petrified if the government does not allowed the journalist to do their work. It’s shown that the government is not committed and ready to implement the agreement in the letter and spirit.
“We therefore, urged government to respect freedom of expression, human rights and Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan and work of journalists in the country so that the peace can be disseminate through social media by local journalists and international journalists.”
