South Sudanese top general dismisses genocide warning

A senior South Sudanese army official on Friday dismissed the possibility of genocide occurring in the youngest nation whose social fabric has come under attack by over two years of conflict.

The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) Chief of Staff General Paul Malong Awan said according to military intelligence there was no serious evidence of ethnic killings on wide scale in the Yei area located some 150 km southwest of the capital.

"I have flown to Yei and such things (genocide) are not there. I asked my soldiers, intelligence in the army and there is nothing of such. These are propaganda to those who want South Sudan to collapse," he revealed.

The United Nations warned earlier of the risk of South Sudan descending into genocide in the aftermath of reported rise in hate speech and targeted killings along ethnic lines in the remote areas of the country.

"Whoever is talking of genocide is not true and nobody will accept genocide to take place," Malong assured.

He also downplayed fears that the army had lost public trust and confidence following several reports by international NGOs implicating the SPLA on gross human rights violations and executions in Yei, the epicenter of increased violence along ethnic lines.

"Our relation with the citizens has not broken down. We have directed our forces on how to behave with the civil population. We are waiting for the legislature to pass a resolution to give the President the mandate to use the army to disarm the civil population. We don't enter when we are not given the mandate," he revealed.

Malong also denied that the SPLA was blocking UN peacekeeping mission force (UNMISS) and NGOs from humanitarian access to those in need in hard to reach areas.

"The protection of NGOs I have included it in my command orders especially those who are coming for goodwill. There was issue that we were preventing UNMISS we have a right of informing somebody wherever he is going to take precaution," he noted. Endit