South Sudan Police Beat Up U.N. Activist
JUBA (Reuters) – A group of South Sudanese police officers assaulted the human rights director of the United Nations mission in the country last week, sources and internal documents said Thursday.
They said 10 to 14 police officers slapped, kicked and beat Benedict Sannoh, a West African, at Juba’s South Sudan hotel on Saturday morning after he refused to let them examine his personal belongings, according to several UN sources.
He was then put into a vehicle and “forced to sit while other police (kicked) him,” according to an internal UN security document seen by Reuters.
“We’ve taken note of this incident. It’s a violation of our agreement with the government of South Sudan,” UNMISS spokesman Aleem Siddique told Reuters.
“UNMISS is conducting an investigation into the incident.”
It was not clear if the assault was related to his work as director of human rights at the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan. The police spokesman was not immediately able to comment.
After being briefly detained in a cell, Sannoh was taken back to the hotel, where his room was searched. He was later taken to a U.N. hospital.
South Sudan won independence from Sudan on July 9 following a January referendum agreed under a 2005 cease-fire which ended decades of civil war.
The new nation is attempting to transform its rebel army into a disciplined security force but is frequently accused of abuses, even within its own recruitment program.
“Violations by the police in South Sudan have been a huge concern for a number of years,” Jehanne Henry, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, told Reuters by telephone.
“Events like this underscore the need to improve their behaviour, the way they treat civilians and their accountability for abuses against civilians.”
(Editing by Sami Aboudi and Sophie Hares)
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE77O7T820110825?sp=true
South Sudan Police Beat Up U.N. Activist
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and JOSH KRON
Published: August 26, 2011
NAIROBI, Kenya — South Sudanese police officers beat up the head of the United Nations human rights division in South Sudan, leaving him in the hospital and drawing a sharp rebuke from the United Nations.
According to a United Nations statement released on Friday, Benedict Sannoh, the United Nations’ human rights chief in the newly independent Republic of South Sudan, was assaulted by more than 10 police officers, “who beat, kicked and punched him in a sustained fashion while he was in a fetal position on the floor.”
The attack happened on Aug. 20, after Mr. Sannoh refused to let police officers search his luggage at a hotel in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, which declared its independence from northern Sudan in July. Mr. Sannoh was cut and bruised and hospitalized for five days before being sent abroad for further medical treatment.
“The High Commissioner considers this incident to be totally unacceptable,” said the statement from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Unless those responsible are held to account, this will send a chilling message to all those working in the defense of human rights in South Sudan.”
South Sudan is one of the poorest, least-developed nations in the world, the legacy of decades of civil war and intentional marginalization by Arab rulers in northern Sudan. The country has been plagued by fighting between an array of armed factions — both before and after formal independence — and its security forces are widely known to be undisciplined and violent. Aid groups have recently complained about government security personnel hijacking humanitarian convoys.
This is not the first time police officers have been accused of serious abuses. United Nations officials and witnesses said that police commanders and soldiers beat and raped police recruits at a training center outside of Juba last year. The recruits were also subjected to harsh training exercises, leading to the deaths of as many as 100 people.
South Sudanese officials said Friday that they did not have details about the attack on Mr. Sannoh but that they were looking into it.
“Whatever happened, the government is taking a step up to secure the situation,” said Mangar Amerdid, a government spokesman. “We will do a full investigation.”
South Sudan’s stability is also threatened by several rebellions and bitter ethnic fighting. At least 600 people have been killed, 200 children kidnapped, tens of thousands of cattle stolen and 7,900 homes destroyed in recent battles between the Murle and Lou Nuer communities. On Friday, the United Nations announced that it was sending peacekeepersto act as a buffer between these communities and to discourage revenge killings.
Jeffrey Gettleman reported from Nairobi, and Josh Kron from Kampala, Uganda
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/27/world/africa/27sudan.html?_r=1
Cops assault UN rights official in South Sudan
Sapa-AFP | 26 August, 2011 12:26
The flag of South Sudan (C) flies after the United Nations General Assembly.
Image by: SHANNON STAPLETON / Reuters
A top UN human rights official was assaulted by South Sudan police officers, the office of the UN rights chief says, slamming the incident as “totally unacceptable.”
Benedict Sannoh, who heads the human rights section of the UN South Sudan mission, was “severely assaulted in a hotel lobby in Juba by around 12 South Sudan police officers,” said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The police “beat, kicked and punched him in a sustained fashion while he was in a foetal position on the floor,” said the spokesman, adding that the officers had the intention of searching Sannoh’s room.
Following the beating on August 20, the UN official’s room was searched and ransacked, and he was detained for several hours before being released and taken to a UN hospital where he stayed for five days.
“The High Commissioner considers this incident to be totally unacceptable,” said Colville.
South Sudanese authorities have said they will probe the case, and Colville said his office will “follow the conduct of that investigation closely.”
He stressed that the attack not only violated UN international treaties on immunity, but also flouted an agreement between South Sudan and the international body.
“The government has a clear responsibility to ensure that human rights staff can do their work without fear and intimidation,” said Colville
http://www.timeslive.co.za/africa/2011/08/26/cops-assault-un-rights-official-in-south-sudan
UN condemns assault of staff member in South Sudan
(AP) – 58 minutes ago
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights office has condemned an assault by police on its top official in South Sudan.
A spokesman says the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights’ representative in the newly independent nation was severely beaten at his hotel in Juba, the capital, on Saturday.
Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva on Friday that the official, Benedict Sannoh, had refused to allow police to search his room and possessions before the assault.
He says Sannoh, a Liberian, was hospitalized for five days and is now receiving medical treatment outside the country.
The human rights situation in South Sudan remains fragile since its independence July 9 from Khartoum after decades of civil war.
Since Aug. 19 some 600 people have been killed in ethnic clashes in South Sudan.
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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