Fabricated Wau protest video fact checked

Author: Emmanuel Bida and Garang Abraham

A fabricated video!

Kindly disregard the current trending video on WhatsApp and Facebook which states that the then SPLA soldiers opened fire on protestors in Western Bhar-el-Ghazel State.

Earlier this morning, a video surfaced online indicating that some residents of Western Bhar-el-Ghazel State took to the streets in protest of government’s decision to relocate the state local council headquarter as seen in the video below.

When fact check by 211, the video was re-shared [fabricated] to incite people, following the recent protest in Juba over the death of prominent South Sudanese singer Trisha Cee who succumbed to her injuries after involving in a motor-bike accident over the weekend.

As reported by Al Jazeera’s Anna Cavell eight years ago, the incident happened on December 14 2012.

Residents of Wau town had gathered to protest against the relocation of a local council headquarter. At least nine people were reportedly killed in the protest.

Here is the link to the Aljazeera story: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2012/12/16/protesters-shot-at-by-south-sudanese-army

The British Broadcasting Cooperation (BBC) also quoted the United Nations spokesperson who said South Sudanese army killed 10 people when it opened fire on demonstrators angry at the relocation of a local council HQ in the north-west of the country.

BBC story link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-20658915

It should be noted that there is no any development regarding any relocation of a council headquarter currently in Western Bhar-el-Ghazel State. Western Bhar-el-Ghazel State is yet to have it local government as stipulated in the 2018 peace agreement.

Beware of fabricated content and avoid sharing them for they can make you a victim or an agent of mis/disinformation.

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