NAIROBI, (Reuters) – Six journalists in South Sudan have been detained over the circulation of footage showing President Salva Kiir appearing to wet himself at an official event, the national journalists union said yesterday.
The footage from December showed a dark stain spread down the 71-year-old president’s grey trousers as he stood for the national anthem at a road commissioning event. The video never aired on television but subsequently circulated on social media. The journalists, who work with the state-run South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation, were detained on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Patrick Oyet, president of the South Sudan Union of Journalists.
They “are suspected of having knowledge on how the video of the president urinating himself came out,” he told Reuters.South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei and National Security Service spokesperson David Kumuri did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Kiir has been president since South Sudan gained independence in 2011. Government officials have repeatedly denied rumours circulating on social media that he is unwell. The country has been embroiled in conflict for much of the past decade.
