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On the seventh anniversary of the death of Christopher Allen, the United States embassy in Juba renewed its call on South Sudan’s transitional government of national unity to conduct a credible investigation into Mr. Allen’s death and to demonstrate the political will to take accountability seriously.
Christopher Allen, a dual UK-US citizen, and photojournalist, was killed whilst reporting in South Sudan on August 26, 2017.
Allan was covering the armed conflict between the government forces and the armed opposition groups aligned with Sudan People’s Liberation Army In-Opposition (SPLA-IO) in Kaya town of South Sudan bordering Uganda.
Photographs of Christopher’s body, with horrific injuries visible and his genitals exposed, were circulated online shortly after he was killed.
On 21 March 2024, the Republic of South Sudan’s Ministry of Cabinet Affairs announced the conclusion of its investigation into the death of freelance journalist Christopher Allen.
This followed an exclusive investigation conducted by the government’s security agency in an attempt to justify the murder of Christopher Allan.
The US embassy in the country however stressed that the findings did not address in a comprehensive manner all the factors that led to Mr. Allen’s death or the disrespectful treatment of his remains.
In November 2022, the country’s Information Minister Michael Makuei, was quoted by Radio Tamazuj to have said the government could not investigate Allen’s death and considered him a rebel at the time of his death.
“This man (Allen) entered South Sudan illegally in the first place and that is why I declared in a statement that we have killed a white rebel because he was killed on the side of the rebels,” Makuei said on Wednesday. “Now can we be held answerable or accountable for the death of such a journalist? This is funny and we are being asked to investigate, whom do we investigate now?”
Both Minister Makuei and Cabinet Affairs Minister Martin Elia Lomuro and the Presidential Senior Adviser, Kuol Manyang Juuk were sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control for their role in obstructing peace in the world’s youngest nation.
Mr. Allen was a dual U.S. and UK citizen journalist who was shot and killed while covering the conflict in South Sudan.
