GENEVA, Aug 26 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Friday it has complained to newly-independent South Sudan after police beat the top U.N. human rights investigator in the country so severely that he was hospitalised for five days.
U.N. official Benedict Sannoh, a Liberian citizen, was assaulted by about 12 police officers who "beat, kicked and punched him in a sustained fashion while he was in a foetal position on the floor", the U.N. said in a statement.
"Unless those responsible are held to account, this will send a chilling message to all those working in the defence of human rights in South Sudan," added Rupert Colville, a U.N. human rights spokesman in Geneva.
South Sudan seceded from the north, itself heavily criticised for its human rights record, on July 9, and the U.N. has already expressed concern about a failure to defuse an outbreak of inter-tribal violence that has killed 600.
The statement about the attack on Sannoh said the U.N. had raised "this very serous incident" with South Sudan's president and foreign ministry.
"We understand the authorities have indicated they will carry out an investigation," it said.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay "considers this incident to be totally unacceptable, and we will follow the conduct of that investigation closely", it said.
After the assault Sannoh was detained for five hours, without being charged with any offence, and taken to a U.N. hospital.
The police had been trying to search Sannoh's hotel room and possessions, said Colville.
"They knew perfectly well he was a U.N. staff member, he's been staying there off and on since May," he said. "It's a clear violation on all fronts of treatment of U.N. staff."
The U.N. also said it was very concerned about fighting in the country's Jonglei State in the past week. It called on the government to stop the fighting and welcomed its decision to set up an investigation and deploy troops to stop the violence.
The violence has resulted in more than 600 deaths, 850 wounded, 200 child abductions, 7,900 houses burned and up to 26,000 people displaced. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by David Stamp)
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