South Sudan's opposition leader says he and several members of his party were beaten by soldiers while sticking up posters for independence day.
|||Juba - South Sudan's opposition leader said on Thursday that he and members of his party were beaten by southern soldiers, just two days before the country gains full international recognition.
“I had reports that supporters of the party had been beaten by the SPLA when they were erecting posters in support of independence day,” said Onyoti Adigo, who heads the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Democratic Change, an offshoot of the ruling SPLM party.
“When I went down to the office, I myself was also beaten and I broke a tooth,” Adigo told reporters, adding that he was later released.
The spokesperson for south Sudan's army, the SPLA, said he was not aware of the incident, and that security in Juba, where the alleged incident took place, was being co-ordinated by the internal affairs ministry, which was not immediately available for comment.
A coalition of campaign groups, in a report last month, urged the south to break from the politically repressive and divisive patterns of governance characteristic of the north.
It also warned of an “increasingly autocratic government” in the south, with power and money concentrated in Juba.
Such reports are dismissed by the government, although officials have previously admitted “mistakes” in heavy-handed policing.
“When you have a five-year-old baby, sometimes things get broken,” said information minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin in a recent speech, adding that with time, the baby grows into a “responsible adult”. - Sapa-AFP
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/south-sudan-politician-claims-assault-1.1095380
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