By Longtong Ibrahim
Kaduna (Nigeria) A South Sudanese Newspaper repoter was killed by unknown gunmen in an attack days after President Salva Kiir was reported to have threatened to kill reporters “working against the country.”
Peter Julius Moi, a reporter with Corporate Weekly, was shot twice in the back on Wednesday night, in Jebel area, in the outskirts of the country’s capital, Juba, said his father, Julius Kilong Ramoi.
Committee to Project Journalists (the international journalists’ rights group), has quoted president Kiir threatening journalists on Sunday before leaving for peace talks in neighbouring Ethiopia saying; “If anybody among (journalists) does not know that this country has killed people, we will demonstrate it one day, one time. … Freedom of the press does not mean you work against the country.”
Head of Corporate Weekly, Otieno Ogeda, said the media house had received threats over recent articles by Moi, some of which include stories that focused on the scaling back of operations of South Sudan’s only brewery.
According to Ogede, the body of the deceased was found near the brewery where he also resides, pointing out that nothing was taken from him during the attack. “Everything was intact, even the money in his pocket was never stolen, even his phone was not taken away.” He said.
Julius Moi is the seventh journalist killed in South Sudan this year. Earlier this month, security forces had shut down two newspapers and radio station after they reportedly promoted a proposed peace agreement that the government has since dismissed as a “sellout”.
