Abdullah Buraj Lual, the Secretary General for Hajj affairs addressing a press conference in Juba, (Eye Radio Photo/ Joakino Francis)

The South Sudan Islamic Council has dismissed accusations that its senior officials only chose relatives and friends to make the holy trip to Mecca last month.

Hajj takes place from the 8^th through the 12^th day of the last month of the Islamic year.

In August, President Salva Kiir sponsored the Islamic holy journey for over 200 South Sudanese Muslims to Saudi Arabia.

Some of the Muslim community complained, saying majority of the pilgrims were related or friends with senior officials of the Islamic Council.

Each pilgrim’s round trip reportedly cost 3,600 dollars or 1 million 80 thousand South Sudanese pounds.

However, Abdullah Buraj Lual, the Secretary General for Hajj affairs, disproves all the allegations labeled against the council.

“I can assure you that those who are spreading these rumors are the people who came and didn’t find an opportunity or those who brought people and they did not get to go to Hajj or those who went to Hajj and asked for money and we didn’t give them.”