South Sudan denies abuses cited by HRW in Jonglei report - Chicago Tribune

Reuters 12:05 p.m. CDT, August 25, 2012

* South Sudan official dismisses rights group's report

* Jonglei disarmament campaign launched in March

By Mading Ngor

JUBA, Aug 25 (Reuters) - The head of a South Sudan
disarmament campaign dismissed a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report
saying soldiers had raped, beaten, tortured and killed civilians
during the campaign in Jonglei, the country's largest state.

South Sudan seceded from Sudan a year ago under a 2005 peace
deal and is awash with firearms after a decades-long civil war
with Khartoum that killed an estimated two million people.

Run mostly by former guerilla fighters, South Sudan's
nascent government has struggled to assert control over its vast
and restive territories since declaring independence.

HRW, citing local officials, victims and witnesses, said
soldiers in the national Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA),
have committed the abuses since the disarmament campaign began
in March, particularly in the eastern state's Pibor county.

The group urged the newly independent nation to investigate
and punish those responsible.