Six journalists have been arrested in South Sudan after a video emerged that allegedly shows President Salva Kiir urinating on him during an official ceremony, says the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which is demanding their release.
Journalists from the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) were detained by National Security Service agents on Tuesday, according to New York-based CPJ, citing local media and other sources familiar with the matter. in a press release released Friday evening.
They are under investigation after the broadcast of a video, which went viral in December on social networks, which would show the 71-year-old head of state urinating on him during an official ceremony.
The video posted on YouTube, and still visible on Saturday, shows President Kiir, dressed in his black hat and in a light gray suit, with a dark stain spreading on his left leg.
"Arbitrary detention"
An official of SSBC television, quoted by the independent radio Tamazuj, indicated that the channel had not broadcast the sequence in question.
The arrests reflect "
a pattern of security forces resorting to arbitrary detention when officials believe media coverage is unfavorable
," said CPJ Sub-Saharan Africa Representative Muthoko Mumo.
“
Authorities should unconditionally release journalists and ensure they can work without being intimidated or threatened with arrest
,” he added.
The South Sudan Journalists Syndicate also called for a "
speedy end
" to investigations into the six journalists, suspected "
of having knowledge of the broadcast of 'accurate footage' (of the video) to the public
”.
“
If there has been malpractice or a breach
,” authorities must “
deal with it in a fair, transparent manner and in accordance with the law
,” he continued in a statement.
Civil war
After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan descended into a civil war between sworn enemies Riek Machar and Salva Kiir, which left nearly 400,000 dead and millions displaced between 2013 and 2018.
A peace agreement signed in 2018 provides for the principle of power-sharing within a government of national unity, with Salva Kiir as president and Riek Machar as vice-president.
Read alsoSouth Sudan: around 30,000 people fled violence between armed groups
But it remains largely unenforced, due to ongoing feuds between the two rivals, leaving the country plagued by violence and chronic instability.
The UN and the international community regularly accuse South Sudanese leaders of maintaining a status quo, stoking violence, suppressing political freedoms and embezzling public funds.