The daily activity logs compiled by Self-Defense Forces troops in South Sudan have been dumped, which will make it difficult to examine what their U.N. peacekeeping activities entailed in July, when 270 people were killed by fighting in the war-torn nation.
Officials from the Joint Staff of the Defense Ministry, which disclosed the move on Saturday, said the logs, compiled by members of the Ground Self-Defense Force, have been discarded entirely — including in digital form — because they had "ended their useful purpose." The information in the logs has been relayed to their superiors, the officials added.
The news comes amid concerns that security in the young African country has deteriorated so badly that the GSDF will have to be withdrawn. Some experts have noted that South Sudan no longer meets the government's cease-fire condition for participating in a U.N. peacekeeping mission.