S.Sudan journalist killed as peace deal lies in tatters

Gunmen shot dead a South Sudan reporter in an apparently targeted attack, colleagues said Thursday, days after President Salva Kiir publicly threatened to kill journalists who reported "against the country".

Colleagues, who gathered at the hospital in the capital Juba where Peter Moi's body was taken on Thursday, said it was reported that gunman had not taken the journalist's money or telephone after the killing.

He is seventh journalist killed this year in the war-ravaged country.

"This was an intentional killing," said Oliver Modi, chairman of the Union of Journalists of South Sudan.

Moi, a reporter for the New Nation newspaper, was shot dead after leaving work in Juba on Wednesday evening, colleagues said, in the latest apparent attack on the media.

"Freedom of the press does not mean you work against the country," Kiir told journalists Sunday as he left for peace talks in neighbouring Ethiopia, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

"If anybody among them (journalists) does not know that this country has killed people, we will demonstrate it one day, one time."

There was no immediate response to the killing from the police or security forces.

"Today it is Peter, tomorrow is someone else," Modi added. "We are being taken one by one."

Self-censor for survival

Five journalists working for state-run media were shot dead along with government officials in January.

Five journalists working for state-run media were shot dead along with government officials in January in an ambush by unknown gunmen in Western Bahr al Ghazal state.

Another journalist was killed in May in eastern Jonglei state, reportedly in cross-fire during a gun battle between rival groups.

International press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks South Sudan as the 125th worst nation out of 180.

Rights groups have repeatedly warned about the security forces cracking down on journalists and suffocating debate on how to end a civil war in which tens of thousands of people have been killed.

"More and more independent voices are being silenced in South Sudan at this critical time in the country's history, when the public desperately needs independent, impartial information," said Tom Rhodes from the CPJ.

Condemning the "senseless killing" of Moi, the CPJ said his death "will inevitably cast a pall over journalists in South Sudan, inducing them to self-censor as a means of survival."

Earlier this month security forces shut down two newspapers and a radio station after they reportedly promoted a proposed peace agreement that the government has since dismissed as a "sellout".

Peace efforts in tatters

Peace efforts in South Sudan are in tatters as warring have rivals blamed each other for attacks and the army claimed that the rebels had broken their own peace deal hours after signing.

The government of the world's youngest nation has refused to ink the power-sharing deal, despite the threat of sanctions and mounting international frustration at the failure to seal a peace accord.

It prompted the African Union to warn Wednesday that the rivals would bring "disaster" on themselves and the region if no deal is signed.

The 20-month-long war shows no sign of stopping.

"There was a heavy attack by the rebels, but we fought back in self-defence and repulsed them," army spokesman Philip Aguer told AFP, describing battles Wednesday in the Manyo district of the northeastern oil-producing Upper Nile state.

Rebels accused the government of wanting a military solution, and said they were attacked near the small but strategic southern town of Pageri on Tuesday, on the main road south from the capital Juba towards the Ugandan border.

Rebel general James Koang Chuol said his troops had then seized Pageri, claiming they now controlled the key highway.

Aguer, however, said the government was in control of Pageri.

He dismissed the rebel claims as "lies", saying that while two government soldiers were killed in fighting, they were attacked by unknown gunmen raiding cattle.

Reports of fighting could not be independently confirmed, but the blame game came after a Monday deadline ended to sign a peace deal.

While rebel chief Riek Machar signed the document at talks in Ethiopia, President Salva Kiir only initialled part of it, and said he would return to the table in early September to finalise the accord.

The US State Department said Kiir had told Secretary of State John Kerry that he has "every intention" of signing the agreement.

The 20-month-long war shows no sign of stopping.

"He said he needed a couple more days of consultations but he made it very clear that it was his intention to sign," a spokesman said.

Aguer, meanwhile, accused the rebels of breaking the deal. "You cannot sign a peace agreement and then launch an attack hours later," he said.

'Failure of leadership'

UN aid chief for South Sudan Eugene Owusu, in a ceremony on Wednesday remembering the 29 aid workers murdered in the war as well as the "many more" missing, said that "indifference amongst those in power leaves too many without hope".

Nearly 70 percent of the country's population is facing food shortages while nearly 200,000 terrified civilians are sheltering in UN bases.

"Fighting in South Sudan has caused immense suffering and loss for millions," Owusu said.

Meanwhile, international anger at the standoff is growing with the United States and Britain on Tuesday pushing for UN sanctions against the government.

US National Security Advisor Susan Rice accused Kiir's government of a "failure of leadership" and said it had "squandered" another opportunity to end a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and plunged the country into chaos.

African Union Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma also condemned the setback. "Deadlock in the peace process can only spell further disaster for South Sudan and its people, with far-reaching implications for regional security and stability," she said in a statement.

The government, which has called the proposed deal a "sellout", says it is not possible to sign a credible peace accord because the rebel forces have split.

Powerful rebel general Peter Gadet and other key commanders earlier this month accused Machar of seeking power for himself, and said they would fight both their former comrade and the government.

South Sudan has been torn by fighting between forces loyal to Kiir and rebels allied with Machar, his former deputy, since December 2013 and the violence has exploded along ethnic lines.

"The conflict must end," Owusu said. "We cannot and must not turn our backs on the people of South Sudan."