Wau Killings: Human Rights Watch Calls For Justice
South Sudan state authorities have failed to carry out an adequate investigation into the killing of eight protestors in December 2012 by government security forces, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch has said. 26 May 2013 By Misuk Moses Mule JUBA, 26 May 2013 [Gurtong] - “Eight peaceful protestors are dead in South Sudan at the hands of security forces and apparently, no one has been charged or prosecuted five months later,” says Daniel Bekele Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “This sets a bad precedent for a new country and undermines freedom of expression and peaceful assembly across South Sudan,” he added. Reacting to the Human Rights Watch statement, the government’s spokesperson and the minister of Information and Broadcasting, Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin said that government of South Sudan takes seriously human rights abuses and that investigation into the Wau incident are ongoing with others tried already. He said that the culprits will be brought to book, saying in their previous meetings, they (ministers) have approved eight conventions including the International Convention for Civil and Political Rights. The minister said that the move by his government to ratify to international and regional conventions is an example that they respect human rights. Dr. Marial said that they are democratic and that if anybody is proved guilty in the Wau incident, will be punished according to the law. The Wau killings stemmed for a feud over the relocation of Wau headquarters to Bagari. However the residents protested the move, hence took to the streets against the decision which resulted to killing of at least eight civilians. Early this year, the Governor of Western Bahr El Ghazel State, Rizik Hassan Zacharia criticized a report released by Amnesty International on the December incident where about eight protestors were killed and hundreds were displaced. The report titled ‘South Sudan social civil unrest and state depression, human rights violation in Wau, Western Bahr El Ghazel State’ pins the state government for mishandling human rights, something that the government has denied. Posted in: Home, Governance -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14oocdjCbFsw3EgxsK20bOmiqyNG0mkvwLdn46EismfkX2A%40mail.gmail.com?hl=en-US. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
