South Sudan Jails 10 Soldiers for Rights Abuses

Ten South Sudanese soldiers were imprisoned for human rights abuses perpetrated during a 2012 campaign to disarm fighters from warring communities, an army spokesman said Friday.

The soldiers were tried before a military court and will be "imprisoned from two to four years" for their role in abuses committed in the troubled eastern state of Jonglei, said spokesman Philip Aguer, without specifying exact charges.

Three others who are on trial for murder are awaiting the decision of President Salva Kiir as to whether they will be put to death as requested by the military court, he said.

Twenty more suspects are still being investigated, he added.

Since winning independence in 2011, the South Sudanese military has led campaigns against well-armed community factions but have themselves been accused of murder, rape and human rights violations, rights groups say.

The Sudanese civil war raged between 1983 and 2005 between the regime in Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, along with its armed wing the Sudan People's Liberation Army, and ended in a peace accord and the eventual establishment of a separate state after a 2011 referendum.

The region remains awash with weapons and mines left over from the conflict.