Good Afternoon, It S 1 O Clock. I M David Lukan

NEWS BULLETIN SCRIPT Thursday, May 31, 2018

Good afternoon, it’s 1 o’clock. I’m David Lukan.

The Headlines

 Two civilians killed in renewed fighting near Bentiu

 UN human rights chief pushes for accountability

 Homes burnt and hundreds displaced in Jalle payam, Jonglei State

Fresh fighting has been reported in in Unity State.

A woman and a man have been killed in the shelling believed to have been between government and opposition forces, southwest of Bentiu.

One other person was wounded in the fighting that started on Sunday night.

Unity State Deputy Governor Col. Mabek Lang Mading says he was in Bentiu at the time and witnessed the shelling.

Mading: “During these days before yesterday there was actually a raid that was carried out by the rebels shelling the town of Bentiu that was starting from 8:00 up to 10: 30 at night. That shelling actually resulted in the death of one woman and one man and other man injured. This was what happened before yesterday in Bentiu. I was there in Bentiu.”

The Deputy Governor also reports that a convoy of traders traveling in Rubkona was ambushed at a place called Tharwangyiel.

He says the attackers were repulsed by SPLA soldiers.

United Nations human rights chief Ivan Simonovic has stressed the importance of holding to account those who have committed atrocities during the ongoing conflict.

The Assistant Secretary General has held a series of meetings with the ministers of justice, interior, cabinet affairs and members of the legislature and pressed upon them the need to hold people accountable.

Simonovic told Radio Miraya that justice is needed alongside peace, to break the cycle of impunity.

Simonovic: “With them I was discussing the assessment of the human rights situation, expressing our concern as well as raising the issue of the importance of accountability to insure the sustainability of the peace. We are encouraged by the fact some agreements have been signed. However, there is still a lot to be agreed on and we make it clear that peace and justice should go in parallel in order to break the cycle of impunity in the country.”

The Assistant Secretary General has left for Bentiu this morning to assess the human rights situation in areas most affected by the conflict.

Traffic police are questioning the recurring number of accidents involving busses of the Bakulu bus company.

Two people were killed and nine passengers injured after a Bukulu coach crashed along the Juba-Nimule road on Saturday.

1 | P a g e NEWS BULLETIN SCRIPT Thursday, May 31, 2018

The injured are receiving treatment in Nimule and at Juba Teaching Hospital. The accident occurred when the driver of the bus, traveling from Juba to Kampala, rammed into a truck that was parked by the roadside.

The director of traffic police, General James Biel Rut, says there have been several accidents involving the Bakulu bus company in recent months.

Biel: “We are concerned about the company because this is the fourth accident, terrible accident, and know we can’t bear this anymore. I called the manager and told him human life is more expensive than the money and the buses you have. Therefore, drivers from 18 to 25 years old do not deserve to driver big vehicles, only from 30 to 40 years old.”

The number of people killed in an attack on Jalle payam in Jonglei State has risen from one to four.

More than 70 homes were burnt to the ground when armed men attacked the village on Sunday. The attackers set fire to the homesteads, sending communities fleeing to nearby swamps.

Army Spokesperson Col Phillip Aguer has identified the attackers as cattle raiders. Aguer says the army intervened and recovered 800 cattle.

Aguer: “A cattle raid has taken place in Jalle area of Bor County in Jonglei State and the raiders came from Pibor. But all the cattle were restored, 800 in total. Unfortunately, four innocent citizens were killed by the cattle raiders. But the SPLA stationed at Mathiang and Twic moved in and helped the youth to restore their cattle.”

The South Sudan Red Cross office in Bor has sent an assessment team to the area to verify the number of people displaced and the extent of the damage. David Gai Deer is the director of the Red Cross office in Bor.

Deer: “It came as a surprise attack. There was a lot of fighting between those youth and the attackers, so the attackers managed to repulse the youth in the area. They burnt about 73 homesteads. Many people were displaced and they ran to the swamp areas, so we are trying to establish the facts and make sure that people are coming back when the calm returns. The major issue now will be shelters and food because those people were depending on livestock and we understand hundreds of cows were driven away by the attackers.”

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The National Bureau of Statistics says it will be possible to conduct a national census during the term of the Transitional Government of National Unity.

The agreement signed by President Kiir and Riek Machar in Addis Ababa late Sunday commits to both national elections and a census before the end of the 30-month transitional government period.

John John Maciek, the Deputy Chairperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, says his team could begin mapping the population straight away.

Maciek: “Mapping involves visiting all the areas of South Sudan to identify which are the villages, which are the areas inhabited. We can start the mapping any time from now because you can have access to areas. In the rainy season you cannot conduct the census; neither can you do any mapping. As to whether the elections could take place, in fact it could be feasible to have elections taking place immediately after the census results.”

The Central Equatoria State Ministry of Finance and Public Service has embarked on a cleanup exercise of all government payrolls in a bid to get rid of ghost staff.

A committee has been constituted to carry out the task from the state to boma levels of administration.

This stems from reports that many institutions and pay sheets of the government have been plagued with ghost names who have been receiving salaries and other benefits.

Central Equatoria State Minister of Finance Juma David Augustine says over 14,000 government workers of the state are subject to the screening.

Juma says the government has been losing a lot of money as result of the practice.

He says the exercise is not a downsizing.

Augustine: “If you go all over the state you will find that every county is complaining about inadequate teachers, but in our payrolls we have many teachers. If you go to our health facilities, you go to all the counties, we talk about inadequate work force in the health facilities, but practically on the pay roll you see we have a huge number of employees. I have been made to understand that there are individuals who serve in big positions but have no appointments. I think this has to be corrected and we can only correct this if we work through our payrolls, clean them up and clearly identify which places have problems. We are not downsizing but we are only putting our payrolls to order.”

Calm has returned to Maban County in Upper Nile State days after two civilians were killed in clashes between local communities and Sudanese refugees from Blue Nile State.

Deputy Governor Awer Dau Agang says the fighting, which broke out on Saturday, left six people injured.

Dau says security has been deployed and the situation is now calm.

Agang: “The problem happens between a citizen from Maban on his farm and a refugee from Blue Nile and the issue escalates up to the two communities in the camps. Unfortunately, we lost two people from both sides. The problem has been contained and the situation is stable between these communities. Maban County is accommodating more than 130,000 refugees from Blue Nile state, distributed in four camps in the county.”

Local authorities in Lakes State are meeting to brainstorm on ways of improving local revenue collections.

Fifty-eight participants drawn from the eight counties are sitting down for the next four days to ensure money is set aside for improving water, health and education services.

Acting Director General in the State Ministry of Finance Dut Riak says local revenues are not reflected fully in the budget. Riak is urging the county authorities to do proper planning and accounting.

Riak: “Local revenues are not reflected fully in the budget and this is always affecting allocations from the state. Let us start from now. When you collect revenues in your county you must put them in financial form so that the state can project what revenue you have collected within a year. Otherwise, for the last three years we did not receive correct information about local revenues, especially for the four counties Cueibet, Rumbek Centre, Yirol West and Rumbek East. So it is very important to note down that local revenues are very important for projection of your budget.”

In regional news

The first large-scale trials of two experimental vaccines against Ebola have begun in Liberia.

The potentially preventative medicines were taken under strict security to a secret location.

Scientists aim to immunize 30,000 volunteers, including front-line health workers.

More than 8,500 people have died in the Ebola outbreak, the vast majority in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

And in local sports

Ikwotos County has been crowned champions of the counties football tournament after beating Lopa County 4-1 in Torit, Eastern Equatoria State.

In the women’s competition, Torit emerged winners after beating Magwi 2-1. Meanwhile, in the Division Two qualifiers tournament in Yambio, Freedom Boys FC beat Green State 1-nil in their game played at Budway stadium.

To end the news, here are the headlines once again.

 Two civilians killed in renewed fighting near Bentiu

 UN human rights chief pushes for accountability

 Homes burnt and hundreds displaced in Jalle payam, Jonglei State

And that’s Radio Miraya news! I’m David Lukan.

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