South Sudan foreign minister continues London visit - Article <http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article49944#tabs-1> - Comments (0) <http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article49944#tabs-2>
[image: email]Email<http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?iframe&page=enviar_email_articulo&id_article=49944> [image: print]Print<http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?iframe&page=imprimable&id_article=49944> [image: pdf]Save<http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?page=spipdf&spipdf=spipdf_article&id_article=49944&nom_fichier=article_49944> [image: separation] [image: increase] <http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article49944#> [image: decrease] <http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article49944#> [image: separation] [image: separation] ------------------------------ February 12, 2014 (LONDON) - South Sudan's Foreign Minister did not endear himself to the international media in London on Wednesday when he only took four questions at a press conference organised on his behalf by the African Press Organization. *Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin (ST)* Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin gave no further details on the current conflict in South Sudan other than repeating statements given at previous events. He did, however, speak to young South Sudanese and others at the London School of Economics on Wednesday evening. At the press conference Marial reiterated South Sudan's position that Ugandan forces will only leave his country once they have completed the process of eliminating the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group from Central Africa. The foreign minister has repeatedly said that the Ugandan soldiers who are fighting alongside the South Sudanese army (SPLA) against factions who have defected from the military were redeployed from positions in Western Equatoria, where the LRA had previously been active. No mention was made of the new forces deployed by Kampala since the conflict began in mid-December. Marial said that 100 Dinka army officers had been arrested for targeting Nuer civilians in Juba during the first days of the conflict. However, he maintained that any ethnic violence was confined to the SPLA and the rebels - who are mainly soldiers who have defected - rather than between South Sudanese civilians. As he had in his previous public appearances he accused the rebels led by Riek Machar of playing the ethnic card and emphasised the government's willingness to bring all those accused of killings to justice. The two-month old conflict has killed an estimated 10,000 people and displaced nearly one million but the foreign minister was keen, as he has been throughout his trip, to highlight investment opportunities. The United Nations has just graded South Sudan's humanitarian situation in its highest category of alert, putting it on the same level as Syria. On Wednesday Marial appeared on a panel to discuss the current situation in South Sudan at the International Institute for Strategic Studies with the BBC's former Sudan and South Sudan correspondent James Copnall and political commentator Thomas Mawan Muortat. -- 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]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14opx%2BdLS%3D-Vgj%2BDOfZwuzpQ0zRiv%3DFnRjQOSCsXNWdZVnA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
