South Sudan

On 16 August 2015, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir threatened to have journalists murdered if they “work against their country.” Three days later, reporter Peter Moi was gunned down outside his office in Juba.

The International Press Institute urges authorities in South Sudan to apprehend those behind an ambush attack last weekend on the two-car convoy of a local official that left five local journalists dead.

President Salva Kiir should veto a bill giving South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS) sweeping powers, a group of national and international human rights organizations said on 15 October 2014.

The proposed bill would mandate the National Security Service to monitor communications systems, newspapers and radio stations “in respect to security interest so as to prevent misuse by users.”

George Livio, a reporter for Radio Miraya, a U.N.-backed station in South Sudan, has been held without charge by security forces for more than two weeks, according to local journalists and news reports.

A new report by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch says South Sudan’s National Security Service should stop seizing and shutting down newspapers as well as harassing, intimidating, and unlawfully detaining journalists.

Threats and harassment of the media come amid fresh reports of mass killings of civilians in a conflict that erupted in mid-December, derailing hopes for a peaceful start to a country that gained independence from Sudan in July 2011.

In this CPJ Blog post, CPJ East Africa Representative Tom Rhodes reports that the majority of local news houses in South Sudan self-censor or follow either the government or rebel narratives, fearing retribution by either warring party.

The International Press Institute urges South Sudan’s government to refrain from slapping restrictions on journalists and interfering with news coverage, after President Salva Kiir announced that forces loyal to his former deputy, Riek Machar, had attempted to overthrow the government on Monday.

Almasier newspaper had its 7 December 2013 issue confiscated by South Sudanese authorities, after it covered a press conference that was critical of President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

South Sudan’s proposed media legislation package falls short of international standards in some cases – in particular as it introduces statutory regulation of journalism ethics, says the International Press Institute.

The South Sudan government has released two Ugandan journalists, Justin Dralaze and Hilary Ayesiga, arrested on 27 July 2013. They were not charged, however their recorded materials were deleted.

Justin Dralaze, a reporter for Reuters, and Hilary Ayesiga, a journalist with NTV Uganda, were reportedly arrested on 27 July as they filmed near government offices and security facilities in Juba.

South Sudan state authorities have failed to carry out adequate investigations into the killing of eight peaceful protesters in December 2012 by government security forces, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said. The protest took place in Wau, over a decision to move a county administrative headquarters outside of the town.

South Sudan has yet to enact media laws. Editors and journalists say they are especially vulnerable to harassment, arbitrary arrest, and censorship in the absence of laws establishing a legal mechanism to protect media freedom.

Authorities have been holding two state broadcast journalists without charge since last week. Local journalists said they suspect the arrests are related to coverage of protests and ethnic clashes in the northwestern town of Wau.