Juba, July 12, 2015 (SSNA) — South Sudan’s Unity State government said UN’s top humanitarian head Mary Cummins in the oil-rich Unity State is no longer needed to perform her duty, citing human rights report which was published last month by the United Nations (UN).
The report accused South Sudanese government troops of carrying out systematic killing, gang-rape, and burning civilians alive.
Unity State’s deputy Governor, Mabek Lang, told the Associated Press (AP) that the decision to ban Mrs. Cummins was made by the Unity State’s state government.
Meanwhile, the Spokesman for South Sudanese president Ateny Wek Ateny seems to agree with Lang’s account, saying Bentiu didn’t asked Juba to expel Cummins from the country.
However, an independent South Sudanese legal expert who talked to the South Sudan News Agency (SSNA) on condition of anonymity said Ateny’s version of the story does not hold any water because the national government signed international treaties with the UN, not State government.
“The notion that Mabek Lang and his colleagues expelled a top UN official in the country is like saying Unity State Governor banned the United Nations Secretary General,” he said.
“What the Unity State government supposed to say is that it has decided to expel Mary Cummins from Unity State, not South Sudan; from there, the national government can decide of what to do with the state decision,” he added.
South Sudan’s government has a history of threatening and banning UN officials. In May, it expelled Toby Lanzer who was UN’s top humanitarian official in the country after he reported serious human rights violations, including killing, rape, kidnapping among others.