{{South Sudan’s government has detained scores of opposition figures without issuing arrest warrants or giving them access to lawyers since unrest broke out in a northwestern town in December, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.}}<\/p>\n
South Sudan has struggled to establish the rule of law since it split from Sudan in July in 2011 following a long civil war that left the new country awash with weapons.<\/p>\n
Human rights groups regularly accuse its army, an assortment of poorly-trained former guerrilla fighters known as the SPLA, of abuses against civilians, which the government routinely denies.<\/p>\n
Ten people were killed in the town of Wau in December when security forces opened fire on a protest against the relocation of a local council headquarters. <\/p>\n
At least 13 others were killed during unrest that followed the shooting.<\/p>\n
Since the violence, the government of Bahr El Ghazal state has detained 100 people, among them opposition figures, civil society activists, journalists and security officers, Amnesty International said in a report.<\/p>\n
“Arrests of perceived opponents of the government continue to be carried out,” the group said.<\/p>\n
“While some of these arrests appear to have a legitimate basis, evidence gathered by Amnesty International shows that many of the arrests were arbitrary and contravene provisions in national and international law,” it said.<\/p>\n
South Sudan government officials were not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n
Unverified video footage broadcast on Doha-based Al-Jazeera television showed state security personnel opening fire on unarmed protesters during the December protest.<\/p>\n
The failure of the authorities to properly investigate the violence has increased tensions in Wau, Amnesty said.<\/p>\n
{Reuters}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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