South Sudan
War-ravaged South Sudan at a glance
AFP
South Sudan, the world's newest country, has been mired in a devastating civil war for more than four years, with tens of thousands of people killed, nearly four million displaced and its economy in ruins. War broke out when President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup just two years after the country gained independence from Sudan in 2011. With the two men to meet on Wednesday in the latest international effort to stop the fighting, here is some background. - World's youngest state - Before independence, the south of Sudan was ravaged by two civil wars (1956-1972 and 1983-2005) that pitted mainly Christian and animist insurgents in the south...
The challenges of reintegrating child soldiers in South Sudan
Eden Matiyas
One of the most troubling trends of the armed conflict in South Sudan is the use of children as soldiers. South Sudan is among the ten countries with the highest number of child soldiers in the world. Yet political efforts to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate these child soldiers have been limited and challenging. Since independence in 2011, South Sudan has experienced numerous violent struggles. And according to the United Nations, ever since the eruption of the civil war in 2013, both military and opposing armed groups in the conflict have recruited about 19,000 children as...
NGOs on the frontline of South Sudan’s forgotten war
Julia Crawford
As the United Nations Human Rights Council this week heard a new report on abuses in South Sudan, we look at how two Swiss non-governmental groups are working against the odds to help alleviate the suffering of the population. On Tuesday March 13, the Human Rights Council discussed a UN commission report documenting new abuses against civilians in South Sudan, including gang rapes, beheadings and blindings. “We talk of a crime against humanity of persecution with an ethnic dimension,” says commission member Andrew Clapham, professor of international law at the Graduate Institute in Geneva,...
UN wants prosecutions for S,Sudan war crimes
AFP
A UN rights commission in South Sudan said Friday there was sufficient evidence to charge at least 41 senior officers and officials with war crimes and crimes against humanity. South Sudan's four-year-old civil war has been characterised by extreme brutality and attacks on civilians. But no high-ranking officials have been held to account, despite African Union (AU) promises to establish a special court to try alleged crimes. "The court could be set up straight away and the prosecutor could begin working on indictments," said Yasmin Sooka, chairperson of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan. "Under the peace agreement, those indicted can no longer hold or stand for...
South Sudan: Stop Delays on Hybrid Court, says HRW
Human Rights Watch
South Sudan’s top officials have failed to make good on promises to establish an African Union-South Sudanese hybrid court to try international crimes committed during the country’s civil war, Human Rights Watch said today. Four years into the conflict, both parties continue to commit grave human rights crimes against civilians. Despite the August 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS), which envisioned the hybrid court, abuses by all parties persist as the conflict continues to spread. South Sudan’s transitional government has neither ended violations by...
South Sudan: five things to know
AFP
South Sudan, where the government on Monday declared famine in some parts of the country, is mired in an economic crisis due to a devastating civil war.Independent since 2011, the world's newest country was engulfed by civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him.The conflict has left tens of thousands dead and more than three million displaced.Five things to know about the African nation:- Economy in ruins -Oil production -- from which South Sudan gained 98 percent of its revenues on its independence...
Lessons from The Gambia to end the impasse in South Sudan
The Conversation
Not for the first time, South Sudan appears on the International Crisis Group watch list of the world’s most volatile conflicts to watch. This is on top of climbing to second on Transparency International’s index of the most corrupt countries. The world’s newest nation is bedevilled by multiple conflicts and faced with major challenges to establish peace and stability. The most recent UN mission report warns of a conflict that’s reached “worrying proportions”. South Sudan is in the fourth year of open conflict sparked in December 2013 by the falling out between President Salva Kiir and...
Can the African Union save South Sudan?
Julia Crawford, JusticeInfo
Two years after independence in 2011, South Sudan descended into a war which continues to rage, with analysts fearing a possible genocide. In January alone, more than 52,000 South Sudanese fled to Uganda as continued fighting risks creating a situation of mass atrocities, the UN's special adviser on genocide prevention Adama Dieng said this week. In a recent article in the New York Times, Mahmood Mamdani, Professor of government at Columbia University (US) and director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research in Kampala (Uganda) put forward a radical proposal. Saying South Sudan is “a...
“The UN Security Council should do more to protect the population of South Sudan.”
Vony Rambolamanana, Geneva
The Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng has made various worrying statements this month of November. A few days ago, he has warned about the ethnic violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) and reminded the government its responsibility to protect. He has insisted on this responsibility when assessing the situation of Rohingya in Myanmar or of civilians in Iraq. On November 17th, he issued a statement on South Sudan, this time clearly stressing ‘a strong risk of violence escalating along ethnic lines, with the potential for genocide.’ Lately ‘the obligation [for...
UN struggles to act as South Sudan conflict continues
Ephrem Rugiririza, JusticeInfo.Net
After a long debate last week, the United Nations Security Council failed to agree on action in the face of continuing massive abuses against civilians in South Sudan. A proposal supported by Washington and its Western allies on an arms embargo was blocked by Russia. The UN’s advisor on genocide prevention Adama Dieng had nevertheless warned during the debates that there was a risk of genocide in the world’s youngest nation. Only two years after its independence, South Sudan plunged into a bloody civil war in 2013 between supporters of President Salva Kiir and those of his former...
South Sudan's never ending war
Obi Anyadike, IRIN
South Sudan’s conflict has entered a new, more dangerous phase. While there has been no new fighting in the capital, Juba, since a splurge of violence in July, rebellion is spreading across the country. In its wake, refugees are fleeing into neighbouring Uganda and Ethiopia, fearing yet more bloodshed to come. This briefing explores a crisis that has already left more than five million people – roughly half the population – in need of aid. Where are we now? At the root of the conflict is a political contest for power between President Salva Kiir and his rival, former vice president Riek...
South Sudan officials get rich from war crimes
AFP
South Sudan's devastating civil war has enriched senior officials directing the conflict, including the president and his main rival, a report charged Monday. "Top officials ultimately responsible for mass atrocities in South Sudan have at the same time managed to accumulate fortunes, despite modest government salaries," said the report, commissioned by the Hollywood actor and activist George Clooney. The brutal war -- which broke out in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup -- has claimed tens of thousands of lives and forced many times that number to flee their homes. Almost half of the population rely on food assistance for...
South Sudan: Killings, Rapes, Looting in Juba
Human Rights Watch
(Nairobi) – Soldiers killed and raped civilians and extensively looted civilian property, including humanitarian goods, during and after clashes between government and opposition forces in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, in July, 2016, Human Rights Watch said today. In many cases, government forces appeared to target non-Dinka civilians. As a result of indiscriminate attacks, including shooting and shelling, shells landed in camps for displaced people inside United Nations bases, and in other densely populated areas in the city, killing and wounding civilians. Human Rights Watch researchers visiting Juba in July after the clashes documented multiple crimes, most committed by government...
World must help save South Sudan, says expert
Julia Crawford, JusticeInfo
In South Sudan, a fragile peace deal signed in August 2015 looks in doubt as fighting again erupted in Juba this July and Vice-President Riek Machar fled the capital. Many civilians have not only died but also been the target of serious human rights abuses. The US-based Enough Project recently published a report looking at some of the underlying causes of the conflict in South Sudan. In this interview, report author Brian Adeba tells JusticeInfo there will be no end to impunity unless the international community ensures the peace deal is applied. South Sudan, the world’s oil-rich newest...
South Sudan's long road to peace
AFP
South Sudan's civil war has raged for over two years, but preparations are on to forge a unity government with President Salva Kiir's arch-rival Riek Machar taking the post of vice president.Machar's return to the capital Juba is expected on April 18, potentially one of the most significant steps towards peace since a repeatedly broken deal made in August 2015.Independent since 2011, the conflict in the world's newest nation has pitted government troops loyal to Kiir against those of Machar, who was sacked as vice president six months before war began in December 2013.Tens of thousands have been killed and more than two million people forced from their homes. The UN says South Sudan ranks...
UN blasts rape for wages, child killings in South Sudan
AFP
South Sudan has encouraged fighters to rape women in place of wages, while children have been burnt alive, the UN said Friday, calling it one of the world's most "horrendous" human rights situations. Grotesque rights violations could amount to war crimes, said a report on the world's youngest country from the United Nations human rights office. The UN findings coincided with an Amnesty International report saying government forces deliberately suffocated to death more than 60 men and boys by stuffing them into a baking hot shipping container. After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011,...
Parity for Women in Peace Processes Needs more Action, says Expert
Julia Crawford, JusticeInfo
March 8 is International Women’s Day, and one of the main focuses this year is pushing for parity. Women in conflict countries are often excluded from peace processes. Back in 2000, the United Nations passed Resolution 1325, calling for women to be involved in all levels of peace making and peace building. So, fifteen years on, are we getting parity for women in peace processes? JusticeInfo put the question to Jocelyn Kelly, head of the Women in War programme at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Jocelyn Kelly: I think 1325 created a beautiful roadmap for the engagement of women in...
South Sudan : key events in the war
afp
South Sudan, where President Salva Kiir has named arch-rival Riek Machar as vice president, has been in civil war for over two years. Independent since 2011, the conflict in the world's newest nation has pitted government troops loyal to Kiir against those of Machar, who was sacked as vice president six months before war began in December 2013. Tens of thousands have been killed and more than two million people forced from their homes. The UN says South Sudan now ranks "lower in terms of human development than just about every other place on earth". Here are key events in the war. - 2013 - December 15: Heavy gunfire erupts in Juba, where tensions have risen since...
South Sudanese “Want Truth, Justice and Reconciliation”
Julia Crawford, JusticeInfo.net
Recent reports say both sides in South Sudan’s conflict have committed serious human rights abuses, whilst an August 2015 peace accord looks increasingly fragile. Yet a recent survey found that the majority of ordinary people in South Sudan want peace, accompanied by “truth, justice, reconciliation and healing”. When South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of war with Khartoum, hopes were high for a new start. But in late 2013, the new country started tearing itself apart again in an internal civil war. Recent reports from the UN point to massive human rights abuses...
UN Must Take Action on South Sudan, Say NGOs
Julia Crawford, JusticeInfo
A confidential UN experts’ report leaked to the press on Tuesday calls for an arms embargo on South Sudan. It also says President Salva Kiir and a rebel leader should be sanctioned over atrocities in a two-year civil war. The report says Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar “are still completely in charge of their forces and are therefore directly to blame for killing civilians and other actions that warrant sanctions”, Reuters reported. The news agency said that although “the names of the individuals the panel recommend for sanctions in the form of an international travel ban and asset freeze...