South Sudan troops accused of suffocating 50 civilians

Government forces in South Sudan have been accused of killing persons by allowing them to suffocate in a container exposed to the sun.

These accusations were made on Sunday by the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission during the African Union summit.

The reports indicates that the events occurred sometime in October 2015.

South Sudan’s defence minister refuted the allegations saying if there was such an incident it would have been brought to his attention.

Rights activists have in the past accused South Sudan for using metal containers as makeshift prison cells.

Government troops and rebel forces in the troubled nation have also been accused of murder, rape and looting.

More than 2 million people have been forced to flee their homes due to frequent violence caused by a rivalry between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy now rebel leader, Riek Machar.

Efforts to form a transitional government have been futile despite the peace deal signed in 2015 to end ongoing conflict in the country.

“The people of South Sudan are eager for peace, and are desperate that a new war has began. While the primary responsibility for keeping the peace will always be on South Sudanese shoulders, the African Union can exemplify African solidarity and stand with the ordinary people, and not with those who show wanton disregard for the wellbeing of their compatriots,” Festus G.Mogae chairman of the Joint and Monitoring Evaluation Commission told the African Union.