from RAJI BASHIR in Khartoum, Sudan
Sudan Bureau
KHARTOUM, (CAJ News) – THE United States has rejected the report, provided by South Sudan, of the death of an American-cum-British journalist killed during the civil war in 2017.
Journalist Christopher Allen was fatally shot while covering the conflict. He was aged 26.
South Sudan’s transitional government recently announced Allen was “unintentionally killed as a result of crossfire.”
This aligns to the version that he had embedded with rebels and had no attire to confirm he was a member of the press.
The US however has denounced the findings.
“The subsequently released report does not address in a comprehensive manner all the factors that led to Mr Allen’s death or the disrespectful treatment of his remains,” said Matthew Miller, spokesperson of the US Department of State.
“We renew our call on the transitional government to conduct a credible investigation into Mr Allen’s death and to demonstrate the political will to take accountability seriously,” Miller added.
Allen was a dual US and United Kingdom citizen.
His killing is a long-drawn episode.
Following his death, South Sudanese officials claimed that military officers had shot a “white rebel” and rejected appeals to investigate the killing.
South Sudan only opened a probe into the death in October 2023.
The world’s newest country plunged into civil war in 2013, two years after independence.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports that six journalists have been killed in the volatile South Sudan in connection to their work since the country gained independence.
The country is also the world’s third-worst offender on CPJ’s 2022 Impunity Index, an annual report that spotlights countries with the worst records of securing justice for murdered journalists.
– CAJ News