Impunity Spotlight: South Sudan
Peter Julius Moi, Freelance
August 19, 2015, in Juba, South Sudan
Unknown assailants shot Moi twice in the back near his home in the capital, Juba, at around 8 p.m., according to news reports. The journalist was walking home from work when the attack occurred, according to news reports and his family, who spoke to CPJ. Moi’s phone and money were not taken in the attack, news reports said.
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South Sudan is #5 on CPJ’s 2015 Impunity Index, which calculates the number of unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of each country’s population. This month CPJ is highlighting cases from each of the 14 countries on the list ahead of the International Day to End Impunity on November 2.
South Sudan
South Sudan joins the Impunity Index just four years after becoming an independent nation. Five journalists were killed on January 25, 2015, when unidentified gunmen ambushed an official convoy in South Sudan’s Western Bahr al Ghazal state. A total of 11 people died in the attack. According to witnesses, the victims were shot and attacked with machetes before being set on fire. CPJ is investigating the murder of a sixth journalist, reporter Peter Julius Moi, who was shot in the back while walking home from work August 19, 2015. No attackers in either incident have been apprehended. The killings bring a new level of intimidation to South Sudan’s beleaguered media. Since civil war broke out in 2013, security agents have harassed the press and raided media outlets to limit coverage of rebel activities, according to CPJ research. South Sudan is now the second worst impunity offender in Africa after Somalia.
IMPUNITY INDEX RATING: 0.420 unsolved journalist murders per million inhabitants
LAST YEAR: South Sudan has not appeared on any previous index