South Sudan expels UN human rights worker - The Guardian

South Sudan has been accused of human rights abuses by the UN, an organisation upon which it is heavily dependent. Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

South Sudan has expelled a UN human rights investigator, accusing her of writing false reports, a move that the UN mission said breached the country's legal obligations to the United Nations.

UN sources, who named the officer as Sandra Beidas, said the expulsion may have been related to an August report accusing the army of torturing, raping, killing and abducting civilians.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in July last year under a 2005 peace deal that ended a decades-long civil war in which around 2 million people died. Sporadic conflict has continued in disputed border areas.

Human rights groups accuse the new nation, which depends heavily on western aid, of allowing abuses by its security forces, mostly composed of poorly trained former guerrilla and militia fighters.

Government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin said the officer had been "writing reports which have no truth in them". He did not elaborate.

Hilde Johnson, head of the UN mission in South Sudan, called the expulsion a "breach of the legal obligations of the government of the Republic of South Sudan under the charter of the United Nations".

Rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have accused South Sudan's army of gross human rights violations during a disarmament campaign aimed at stopping inter-tribal warfare in Jonglei.