A journalist working with Classic FM radio station in Juba, South Sudan is demanding an apology from the office of the Vice President for Gender and Youth Cluster Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior after one of her bodyguards allegedly slapped him.
Denis Logonyi told Radio Tamazuj that he was slapped on Wednesday at Nyakuron Cultural Centre while he was covering the inspection of South Sudanese products by Vice President Nyandeng during the commemoration of the International Youth Day .
“It is an unfortunate situation that happened on Wednesday that we don’t expect it to happen again to any journalist in South Sudan. What happened was uncalled for, and it requires an apology from the office of the vice president to issue an apology not actually to me, but to the entire media fraternity in South Sudan,” Logonyi demanded.
According to him, a uniformed bodyguard approached him at the function and demanded that he delete all the photos he had taken and asked for his press identity card, which he produced. But another officer who did not seem to understand what was happening appeared and started to harass him. He added that the issue was later resolved after the intervention of other officials at the function.
However, he adds that while explaining to his colleagues what had happened, the officer who harassed him appeared and slapped him on the face.
“While I ceased to work and I went to stand aside, people came to ask me what happened and why the soldier was pulling me here and there. As I was narrating to them, the same armed soldier came pointing at me, and then he slapped me,” Logonyi narrated. “So, this was too bad for a person who is guarding a high profile figure like the Vice President. It may look like it is an individual act, but this goes back to the office of the vice president on the selection of the people she moves with.”
The President of the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS), Patrick Oyet Charles said in a statement they are engaging with the office of the Vice President to investigate the matter.
“We are very concerned about that issue where one of our journalists was slapped by one of the security personnel. Yesterday, we immediately contacted the office of the VP for Gender and Youth Cluster because it was alleged that the security personnel who slapped the journalist was from their unit,” Oyet said.
Oyet said the two parties are already in talks and hope to resolve the matter amicably.
“We are happy that they are willing to talk with us and we have been talking and we have been meeting with them. And now we are still investigating the matter as they also continue to investigate if the security personnel is from their unit,” he added.