Governor Dismisses Amnesty’s Report On Human Rights

Rizik said that the report is unfair, bias and partial accusing them of handling the report from one angle without looking at the root causes.

He says that the report accuses his government of mishandling human rights saying that they are flexible in handling human rights.

The governor also criticized the report which he says ‘claims’ the demonstration was peaceful. He challenged the report arguing that the demonstration was not legal and that the demonstrators had not obtained a document from police.

He further accused the protestors of throwing a grenade into the house of the local government minister.

Rizik said that the demonstration did not take place on a working day and that they had tried to contain the situation by sending the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) state coordinator to talk to the protestors.

He said that the incident led to the arrest of many people including members of the South Sudan’s security forces. No definite figure has been released by the governor on the number of security forces arrested in relation to the December incident.

“The report is partial intended to damage the image of the state government,” he said.

He said that the Amnesty International group that went to his state ‘just did it for formality.’

Governor Rizik Hassan Zachariah last year in Juba said that the move by his government to transfer Wau County head quarters to Bagari is not ill intentioned but rather extension of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) vision of taking towns to the people.

“The decision did not come out of blue and it is therefore in line with the SPLM vision of taking towns to the people,” he said.

Ten people were killed in Wau in December when security forces opened fire on a protest against the relocation the county headquarters.

At least 13 others were killed during unrest that followed the shooting.

Since the violence, the state government detained 100 people, among them opposition figures, civil society activists, journalists and security officers, Amnesty International said in a report.