South Sudan denies allegations of atrocities against civilians

JUBA, Sept. 19 — The South Sudanese government has denied a report alleging that government troops committed massive atrocities against civilians in the northern parts of the country recently.
Michael Makuei, South Sudan government spokesman called the report “fake”, alleging that it was written by anti-peace groups who do not want stability in the war-torn East African nation.
“Such reports are not new but these are reports which are concocted by the people who are making their livelihoods on these fake reports and at the expense of the people of South Sudan,” Makuei told Xinhua.
“Those who keep on writing reports here in the hotels are people who we don’t believe. These are war mongers and these are the people who don’t want peace for South Sudan,” he added.
Amnesty International said in the report released on Wednesday that it documented incidences of gang rape of women and girls, arbitrary killing of civilians and massive destruction of property in Leer and Mayendit counties, areas under opposition control.
South Sudan descended into civil war in late 2013, and the conflict has created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world.
A peace deal signed in August 2015 broke down in July 2016 following renewed violence in the capital Juba and quickly spread to previously peaceful areas.
Parties to the five-year old conflict last week signed a new powering-deal in neighboring Ethiopia aimed at ending a civil war that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 4 million internally and externally since 2013. – XINHUA