Col. Santo Domic, deputy spokesman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), has slammed the UN report which accused government troops of committing grave human rights violations including killings and gang rapes in the capital Juba during and after the fighting that occurred between 8 and 12 July 2016.

The report published by the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the UN Human Rights Office said that throughout the fighting between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army  in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO),”the belligerents blatantly ignored international human rights law and humanitarian law.”

Domic told Radio Tamazuj yesterday that the report filed by the United Nations lacks evidence, saying the UN Mission in South Sudan and the UN Human Rights Office should take the victims who accuse the SPLA army of committing atrocities to court.

“The victims should go to the court and open cases against the perpetrators, if the accused are members of the SPLA army, they should come and identify the perpetrators, if they are from the national security, they should do the same thing,” said Domic.

For his part, William Gatjiath Deng, the official spokesman of the SPLA-IO, denied involvement of their forces in the atrocities committed during and after the fighting in Juba.

“The SPLA-IO forces were not part of it, because when the clashes erupted in Juba everybody knows what happened, were clashed with the government forces and we left Juba, but the government forces went and raped international aid workers,” said Gatjiath.

File photo: Santo Domic