South Sudan's government is challenging a new report by a U.S.-based watchdog group that says the country's leaders have amassed wealth abroad amid a conflict in which tens of thousands have been killed. A spokesman for President Salva Kiir says the allegations by The Sentry report "can only jeopardize the pursuit of peace and stability in my country where mutual distrust and lack of authority are key factors of violence." On Wednesday, a South Sudan newspaper, The Nation Mirror, said the government had ordered its shutdown the day it published a front-page story on the watchdog report. South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, plunged into conflict soon after Kiir fired Machar from his post as vice president in 2013. The United Nations on Friday announced that South Sudan conflict has produced a million refugees, a "very sad milestone" reached only by Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia.

Source: ABC News September 17, 2016 09:45 UTC