Advertisement

Report on human rights abuses in S. Sudan deferred indefinitely

Saturday January 31 2015
unmiss

Internally displaced people (IDPs) inside a camp at a UNMISS (United Nations Mission in South Sudan) base in Malakal on February. PHOTO | FILE |

A report on atrocities and human rights violations during the war in South Sudan was not released at the African Union Summit over fears that it could jeopardise the fragile peace process.

However, diplomatic sources in Addis Ababa revealed that the release was deferred indefinitely due to strong resistance from the Juba regime combined with discomfort among regional leaders about imposing sanctions against the top leadership of the two warring parties.

The Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan led by former Nigerian president Olesegun Obasanjo, had been scheduled to release the report to the African Union Peace and Security Council on Thursday evening, which was later to be presented on the last day of the summit on Friday.

Once adopted by the Summit, the AU Peace and Security Council was to submit it to the United Nations Security Council for further action, sanctions or reference to the International Criminal Court.

Sources privy to its contents told The EastAfrican that the report recommended sanctions against 45 leading individuals from the government side and 20 from the rebels.

However, its release would not only have put pressure on regional countries to impose individual sanctions, but there were also concerns that it could throw the peace process into disarray, especially after the recent Arusha Accord.

Advertisement

READ: Real test of Arusha deal lies in its implementation, experts warn

The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) Heads of State were supposed to convene on Saturday in Addis Ababa to review the progress of the negotiations, after the Friday meeting aborted when President Salva Kiir was taken ill.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn tabled a motion to “defer” presentation and consideration of the report pending the finalisation of a peace agreement.

Presidents Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda seconded the motion. The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) Heads of State Summit last August agreed to adopt Obasanjo’s report and exclude anyone involved in crimes against humanity from the proposed transitional government, besides sanctions.

South Sudan charge d’affaires in Nairobi, James Morgan had earlier in the week told The EastAfrican that the government did not favour the release of the report because it did not cover all the atrocities in the three states where the war has been fought, especially the killings in Bentiu, Unity State.

Disappointing

However, Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s African regional research and advocacy director, said that the AU Peace and Security Council has failed the thousands of South Sudanese victims who are waiting for truth and justice, by not releasing the report.

“What is outrageous is that the Peace and Security Council shelved the report indefinitely before its members even received copies or heard Obasanjo’s remarks. The AU seems to have forgotten that one of its founding principles is the condemnation and rejection of impunity,” said Mr Belay.

Since December 15, 2013 when the fighting started, all parties to the conflict in South Sudan have committed crimes under international law, including attacks on civilians often based on ethnicity or perceived political allegiance, sexual violence and widespread destruction and looting of civilian property.

Local and international civil society organisations have been petitioning the AU to release the report, including 21 South Sudanese civil society organisations who sent a petition to the Peace and Security Council on Wednesday calling for the report to be published immediately.

The establishment of the commission was a watershed in the history of the AU because it was the first time the continental body saw it fit to move with speed and investigate conflict-related crimes against humanity, war crimes and general abuse of human rights.

The Commission was mandated by the AU Peace and Security Council on December 30, 2013, to investigate human rights abuses and violations by parties to the conflict in South Sudan and make recommendations on accountability, reconciliation and healing in South Sudan.

The five-member commission was formally constituted in March last year and has since conducted multiple visits to South Sudan and also met with South Sudanese living outside the country.

In June last year, the commission released an interim report in which it recorded that both parties continued to violate ceasefire agreements with abandon, called for an end to any form of military support from countries in the region to the belligerents that fuels and encourages hardening of positions and continuation of hostilities.

It also noted that ethnic animosity was arising out of historical grievances and the manner in which the violence had taken ethnic dimensions, and due to the delay in reaching comprehensive political settlement in the ongoing mediation process.

Advertisement