The Embassy of the United States of America In Juba on Monday repeated its demand for a credible inquiry into the death of Christopher Allen, a freelance journalist who was a dual U.S. and United Kingdom citizen.
The reporter was shot dead while covering a clash in Central Equatoria State’s Kaya Town on the South Sudan-Uganda border on 16 August 2017 after having been embedded with the then-rebel SPLA-IO forces for three weeks.
“On the seventh anniversary of the death of Christopher Allen on August 26, 2017, we renew our call on the transitional government to conduct a credible investigation into Mr. Allen’s death and to demonstrate the political will to take accountability seriously,” the statement from the U.S. Embassy reads in part. “The findings that were announced on March 21 of this year did not address in a comprehensive manner all the factors that led to Mr. Allen’s death or the disrespectful treatment of his remains.”
In October last year, the government, after years of continual international pressure from the U.S., UK, and journalistic and human rights bodies, constituted a committee to investigate Allen’s killing.
In March this year, David Charles Ali Bilal, the head of the investigation committee, addressed a press conference and said the attack in which the journalist was kicked occurred at 5:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) and it was difficult to determine “who is black and who is white.”
“Christopher Allen was unintentionally killed as a result of crossfire,” he said, reading from the report.
Ali re-echoed a statement Information Minister Michael Makuei made shortly after Allen’s death that the journalist “entered South Sudan illegally.”
“He was not wearing any protective or press identification clothes,” he added.