South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The government of Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) has denied claims of arresting five local chiefs on trumped up charges in November this year.
Jacob Werchum Juok, GPAA Minister of Information and Communication said that they arrested a local chief for hiding suspects accused of committing murder.
“There has been no mass arrest of the local chiefs by the administration as alleged by enemies of progress. What happened was an isolated incident that involved the murder of an underage boy in Pibor by assailants who were later discovered to be residents of one of the villages in Pibor County,” said Juok on Wednesday in a statement.
He said the local chief was only summoned and he cooperated with security authorities leading to the arrest of the suspects.
The claims of the arrest of the local chiefs was made recently by Ter Manyang Gatwech, the Executive Director for the Centre for Peace and Advocacy (CPA), who alleged that the GPAA authorities violated human rights of the five by detaining them beyond 24 hours as stipulated in the Transitional Constitution 2011.
“The allegations posted as gross human rights violations by the CPA director are nothing than a deliberate witch hunt designed to jeopardize progress and stability in Greater Pibor,” he said.
On December 8, 2024,Ter Manyang Gatwech, the Executive Director for the Center for Peace and Advocacy, claimed the five chiefs were arrested because of their disagreement with the GPAA Chief administrator, Gola Boyoi Gola, over a gold mining company operating in the area.
“These local chiefs were held in a police cell for longer than the 24-hour period mandated by the South Sudan Constitution of 2011, as amended. This detention constitutes a gross violation of human rights by the authorities in the Greater Bibor Administrative Area on November 15, 2024,” said Gatwech.
