Juba denies failing to address security challenges
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July 12,2013 (JUBA) - South Sudanese government vehemently denied
Friday failure to effectively address violence and abuse of civilians
in the country, blaming external forces for intention to destabilise
the country
JPEG - 54.1 kb
South Sudan’s information minister, Benjamin Marial, at a press
conference in Juba, 13 June 2012 (ST)
Information and broadcasting minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said his
government has not failed to address developing security challenges
but that there were external forces using individuals in the country
to destabilise the country he says has always been peaceful.
“The government has not failed. It is on top of issues which concerns
our people. The president has issued amnesty pardoning all the rebel
groups. Some of them have responded positively and there are
initiatives to bring on board those who have not responded”, Marial
said Friday
Minister Marial, who doubles up as official spokesperson of the
government, says his administration had established national peace and
reconciliation committee to identify cause of conflict and recommend
what the government should do to resolve the differences amicably.
The senior government official describes South Sudanese people as
peace loving people but that external forces were using some element
“pursuing individual interest” to destabilise the country in order to
advance their agendas.
“Our people are peaceful loving people. They lived peacefully and they
know what is happening. They know external forces are using some
elements to destabilise this country”, Marial told Sudan Tribune on
Friday. He did not mention those elements he said were using
individuals to cause havoc in the country
He declined commenting on reports charging his administration with
widespread human rights abuses and corruption, saying the government
was fully committed to address all challenges.
His comments are seen as attempt to deflect public attention from
discussion about the letter which US activists known as "friends of
South Sudan" and aid workers warned that the new country faces "an
increasingly perilous state".
The signatories of the letter, most of whom enjoys warm relations with
officials at the state department of the America government, accuses
the new country of failing its own people and repeating mistakes of
previous rulers before independence. The group include John
Prendergast, a former director for African affairs at the White
House’s National Security Council.
"We joined you in your fight against these very abuses by the Khartoum
regime for many years," the friends of South Sudan wrote in the letter
addressed to President Salva Kiir Mayardit. "We cannot turn a blind
eye when yesterday’s victims become today’s perpetrators," they added.
Also, Refugees International, called on the US administration to
reduce its non-emergency foreign assistance to South Sudan until the
Secretary of State certifies that Juba government has made progress on
halting human rights abuses by its regular army in Jonglei state.
The American advocacy group accused the South Sudanese army of
committing widespread human rights violations in Pibor county,
Jonglei, ranging from the killing of civilians, burning of homes,
looting of property and denying aid group access to the affected
civilians.
South Sudan came into being as an independent state from Sudan on July
9, 2011, after conducting a referendum in which majority of its people
voted overwhelmingly for independence as part of the implementation of
a 2005 peace deal that ended one of Africa’s longest civil wars.
The South Sudanese fought against the north Sudan during four decades
since Sudan’s independence in 1956. The former rebels blamed Khartoum
for the lack of equitable power sharing and developments as well as
differences over the role of religion in the state affairs.
(ST)
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