Thousands flee to Uganda: UN

Soldiers accused of rape; editor detained

GENEVA, July 20, (AFP): More than 5,000 people have fled crisis-hit South Sudan into neighbouring Uganda since the latest outbreak of violence began on July 7, the UN said Tuesday, voicing fears that more could follow.

An estimated 90 percent of those who have crossed the border in recent days were women and children, the UN refugee agency said.

The latest wave of people are mostly fleeing from the southern state of Eastern Equatoria, with others coming from the capital Juba.

A shaky ceasefire has held for over a week after the fighting that raged in the capital between soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir and troops backing the country’s Vice-President Riek Machar.

The new outbreak of violence has left hundreds dead and forced thousands to flee their homes.

“UNHCR expects more people to flee to Uganda,” the agency said in a statement, noting that the number of people now on the move had risen because the road between Juba and the Ugandan border had been cleared of checkpoints.

Amnesty International has warned that South Sudanese security forces were preventing people from leaving the country.

The London-based rights group said that two airlines had been ordered not to carry South Sudanese nationals, especially men.

The border with Uganda was previously closed on the South Sudan side, but official restrictions had been eased.

On Monday, African leaders agreed to deploy a protection force in South Sudan, giving them a more robust mission than the UN peacekeeping mission currently there.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has received reports that South Sudanese soldiers in uniform have raped civilians near a UN peacekeeping base in Juba, the UN spokesman said Tuesday.

Mission

The UN mission in South Sudan is looking into the reports which, “if true, may constitute a war crime,” said Farhan Haq.

South Sudan authorities are blocking operations by the UN mission known as UNMISS, such as denying flight clearance and harassing personnel, he added.

“UNMISS has also received deeply disturbing reports of sexual violence, including rape, by soldiers in uniform against a number of civilians around UN House in the capital, Juba,” said Haq.

In related news, a South Sudanese newspaper editor has been arrested for writing articles that criticised the country’s leaders over a flare-up in violence earlier this month, a colleague said on Tuesday after meeting security officials.

Alfred Taban, founder and editor of the privately run Juba Monitor, was detained on Saturday, drawing calls from journalists’ and rights groups for his release.

“They arrested Alfred because of the two articles of 15th and 16th July in his column,” Oliver Modi, South Sudan Chairperson of the Union of Journalists, told Reuters.

Meanwhile, South Sudan journalist John Gatluak knew the risks of war: his radio station was destroyed twice but he never stopped broadcasting the news, even when hiding in swamps.

But the quiet, deeply committed journalist was shot dead on July 11 in the capital Juba, the latest in a string of killings and assaults on media and rights groups daring to criticise the leaders of a conflict that has driven the world’s youngest nation to the depths of despair.

“Being a journalist in South Sudan is risking one’s life,” Gatluak said last year when his station in the war-ravaged town of Leer was looted again, according to a statement from his employer Internews, which supports media freedom.