Sanction South Sudan leaders, rights groups tell Igad
What you need to know:
- The groups which also included Amnesty International, Assistance Mission for Africa and eight other South Sudanese organisations accused the region of standing aloof even as civilians perished under a year-long war.
- Igad which has been pushing for a shared temporary government ahead of new elections recently gave the parties time “to consult with their constituents” on the issue. Igad is composed of Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan and South Sudan itself.
- The United Nations estimates that at least 12,000 people have been killed since December last year. More than two million people are in need of relief while at least 120,000 have been displaced from their homes.
Kenya and its peers in the region have to exert more pressure on South Sudan's warring parties to come to a political solution that will save lives, human rights campaigners said on Monday.
The rights groups gathered in Nairobi called on the region under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) to go for sanctions if South Sudan’s leaders drag their feet.
“Regional countries, particularly Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia have much more leverage on the actors on the ground than any other country in the world. They must move to contain this violence before it becomes a protracted war,” said Hassan Shire, executive director of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP).
'COLLECTIVE EFFORT'
“There must be a collective effort to ensure that whoever breaks the cessation of hostilities is held accountable individually. What we are seeing now is that we seem to be rewarding people who are killing civilians by inviting them as respectable political actors. No one seems to be putting pressure on them,” said Shire.
The groups, which also included Amnesty International, Assistance Mission for Africa and eight other South Sudanese organisations, accused the region of standing aloof even as civilians perished under a year-long war.
Monday marked a year since South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, descended into chaos. It started after delegates of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) allied to President Salva Kiir disagreed with those supporting former Vice President Riek Machar.
The incident escalated into fighting among soldiers, a conflict that then spread around the country along tribal lines, pitting the Dinka (Kiir’s tribe) against Machar’s Nuer ethnic group.
HOSTILITIES AGREEMENT
Since then, there have been numerous efforts by Igad to bring the two sides to an agreement. In May this year, the two sides signed a pact to stop fighting, but it was immediately broken after violence resumed.
They would agree to another agreement in August, but it has intermittently been broken. The two sides recently went back to the table after Igad member states warned in November that there would be sanctions against those who violate the cessation of hostilities.
Igad, which has been pushing for a shared temporary government ahead of new elections, recently gave the parties time “to consult with their constituents” on the issue. Igad is composed of Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan and South Sudan itself.
The United Nations estimates that at least 12,000 people have been killed since December last year. More than two million people are in need of relief aid while at least 120,000 have been displaced from their homes.
On Monday, the Red Cross Movement and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the world had forgotten about the plight of the country’s civilians.
'CURTAILING' FREEDOMS
“We call on all armed actors to limit civilian casualties and to respect medical facilities, patients, staff and people using hospitals as shelters.
“There is a lack of health-care for people living in conflict-affected Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile states. Although services are provided for more 100,000 people living in UN-protected sites, many more in remote areas are cut off from basic services, with most the existing health structures destroyed or abandoned,” said Karin Ekholm, field communication manager for MSF in South Sudan.
On Monday, the rights activists charged that the government in Juba was taking advantage of the crisis to clamp down on journalists and activists by proposing laws that could curtail freedoms.
Previously, Amnesty International had published a report that claimed both Kiir’s soldiers and the rebels had committed “crimes against humanity”
Both sides denied the allegations, but the African Union Commission established a commission of enquiry to look into the allegations. The team, led by Nigeria’s retired President Olusegun Obasanjo, is yet to make the report public.
