South Sudan to take legal action against publishers of corruption report

President Salva Kiir’s spokesperson, Ateny Wek Ateny, has stated that the president intends to take legal action against publishers of a report alleging that he and others benefitted financially from the war in South Sudan.

“Yes, there is corruption in South Sudan but this report has fallen short of detailing corruption,” he told the AFP news agency. He also said the corruption report was politically biased against the president.

An investigative report on the conflict in South Sudan has disclosed that the country’s main political players and top military officials have benefitted financially from the civil war.

The ‘War Crimes Shouldn’t Pay’ report indicates that President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar together with their associates have looted the country in accumulating wealth that includes multimillion-dollar mansions, top-of-the-range cars and stakes in a number of overseas businesses.

Speaking to Africanews’ The Morning Call programme, Brian Adeba, who was part of compiling the report said that they are seeking to disrupt and ultimately dismantle the networks of these perpetrators from making profits out of the conflict in South Sudan.

“We are aiming to suggest to the authorities here in the United States and elsewhere that there are very powerful toolkits in the United States system here that can be used as a leverage to change the calculations of the perpetraters of the violence in South Sudan. The aim here is basically to dissuade them from continuing the war,” he said.

He also said that only a few officials were investigated and the list is by no means conclusive.

The report commissioned by US actor and activist George Clooney is expected to be presented to the international community as well as South Sudan’s neighbours in order to urge them to crackdown on banks that fail to stop dubious transactions and impose asset freezes on those responsible for human rights violations.