The South Sudanese rebel group SPLM/A-IO say that they have information about political prisoners whom they claim were killed by the government, but they have not produced the names of any victims to substantiate their claim.
SPLM-IO Head of External Relations Committee Dhieu Mathok told Radio Tamazuj Wednesday that they have credible information with regard to hundreds of their supporters killed by the government before Kiir signed the IGAD-Plus compromise peace agreement. However, Dhieu did not give details about where those detainees were killed or how they were killed.
For his part, Presidential Press Secretary Ateny Wek Ateny challenged the rebels to disclose the names of the allegedly killed political prisoners. He further said the rebel leader should disclose where the political prisoners were allegedly detained before being killed in Juba.
Ateny said that there are no political detainees in South Sudan, describing the accusations by the rebel movement as “baseless”.
Meanwhile, SPLM Secretary-General and leader of the SPLM-G10 ‘Former Detainees’ faction Pagan Amum said his group is working to verify the accusations from independent sources. He stressed that perpetrators of such crimes, if they did occur, will be taken to court during the transitional period.
File photo: Riek Machar