S.Sudan radio journalist held without charge: rights group

Nairobi (AFP) - Security forces in South Sudan have detained a journalist for two weeks from a UN-backed radio, one of the war-torn country's most popular stations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.

The arrest without charge of George Livio, who works for Radio Miraya, is the latest in a series of reported crackdowns on journalists.

On Tuesday, President Salva Kiir signed a new media bill into law, his spokesman said, but reporters said they had yet to see a final wording of the text.

Rights groups have repeatedly warned that security forces have cracked down on journalists, suffocating debate on how to end the fighting that has been grinding on for almost ten months.

Thousands of people have been killed and more than 1.8 million have fled fighting between government troops, mutinous soldiers and ragtag militia forces divided by tribe.

Last week Minister of Information Michael Makuei warned journalists not to interview rebels or face punishment, the CPJ added.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said last month that South Sudan's feared National Security Service had created a "growing atmosphere of fear" by intimidating and unlawfully detaining journalists.

Livio was arrested along with a UN security guard James Lual Tharjiath in Wau, the capital of Western Bahr el-Ghazal state "without explanation" since August 22, CPJ said, quoting colleagues of the reporter.

"The public has a right to hear from all sides in the country's conflict, while journalists have a right and a duty to report accordingly," CPJ said.

State information minister Derrick Alfred told CPJ that Livio was accused of "collaborating with the rebels", claims his relatives and employers have rejected.