Resources
Sunday, February 28, 2021
Journalists for Justice
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Confronting Impunity
  • Communities of Justice
  • Opinion
  • About US
  • Our Work
No Result
View All Result
Journalists for Justice
  • Home
  • Confronting Impunity
  • Communities of Justice
  • Opinion
  • About US
  • Our Work
No Result
View All Result
Journalists for Justice
No Result
View All Result
Home ICC Cases Africa Cases

Situation in South Sudan

Journalists For Justice by Journalists For Justice
January 27, 2020
in Africa Cases, Headline, Top Story
4 min read
0
Situation in South Sudan

The second face-to-face meeting between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar took place on Wednesday behind closed doors at the Presidential Palace, J1, in Juba. The discussions focused on political arrangements relating to the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement, signed in Addis Ababa on 12 September 2018. On Monday, the first day of their face-to-face meeting in Juba, the two leaders tackled the sticky issue of security which, according to Ateny Wek Ateny, the president’s press secretary, registered “good progress”. UN Photo: Isaac Billy

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

By Millicent Zighe


Realising a conflict-free continent is the dream of every African. Ahead of the 33rd AU Summit we highlight the current hotspots; the root causes of conflicts; the various efforts in search of peaceful co-existence and development in line with this year’s theme of #silencingtheguns.
South Sudan has been in the grip of a massive humanitarian crisis since the country gained independence from Sudan in July 2011.
Political struggle between President Salva Kiir, who is from the Dinka community and Riek Machar, who is a Nuer is what ultimately plunged the country into an upheaval. Tensions intensified when Kiir dismissed Machar as the vice president. He then went ahead and accused latter of an attempted coup against his regime resulting to fighting between solders from Dinka and Nuer ethnic groups. Within days, violence spread like wildfire to Upper Nile, Unity States and Jonglei. Machar later came out and denied the coup allegations insisting that that was one of Kiir ploys to have him killed and wipe out the entire Nuer tribe in a genocide. Amidst the allegations, he flew to Juba and planned an uprising resulting in human rights violations including unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, beatings, sexual violence, and recruitment of child soldiers and vandalization of property.
Figures released by the United States Department reveal the violence has caused deaths of over 400,000 civilians. A further 2 million have been displaced, with women being the vast majority. An estimated 2 million people have sought shelter in the neighboring countries. UNHCR statistics show that Uganda hosts 861,590 Sudan 810,917, while Ethiopia and Kenya provide shelter to 334,014 and 119,799 people respectively. Another 88,203 live in DRC Congo. The refugee crisis is listed as the largest in the Africa and the third in the world after Syria and Afghanistan. The agency is now appealing for 1.4 billion $ in order to fund it.
Over half of the South Sudan refugees are children with 65,000 being registered unaccompanied or separated from their guardians, according to the UNCHR’s South Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan 2019 – 2020. The government authorities accused the Sudan People’s Liberation Army – In Opposition of forcibly recruiting children into their military ranks in Rubkona County, in Northern Liech State. David Gai, South Sudan State Information minister alleged the recruitment was launched by SPLM-IO two weeks ago, forcing more children to flee their homes. The Deputy Military Spokesperson of the SPLM-IO Lam Paul Gabriel denied the allegations.
Government critics including human rights monitors and the opposition have also suffered torture castigated by the government security forces and the National Security Service (NSS). Human Right Watch (HRW) documented the case involving activist Peter Biar Ajak who was being held in solitary confinement at the NSS Juba headquarters. Inmates are often subjected to harsh treatments such as electric shock and beatings. HRW reports dozen have disappeared mysteriously or died in custody. Journalists have not been spared as many have been arrests for publishing articles casting the government in bad light. Kiir regime has also revoked the licenses of some media houses prompting UN to urge the country’s top leadership to respect the freedom of press and speech.
Under threats of International sanctions, South Sudan signed several peace treaties with the latest one being the Rome Declaration which was facilitated by Pope Francis. The warring parties agreed to implement the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed on December 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The rebels agreed to end all hostile military actions, vandalization of public property and to fully comply to humanitarian and international law. Nonetheless the two main principles failed to agree on the number of states the country should have. Kiir is adamant that he will maintain the 32 states something that Machar’s Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) and other opposition parties are against. South African Vice President David Mabuza is expected to deliver a verdict on the issue.
In an attempt to provide justice to the victims of the civil war, United Nations in conjunction with South Sudan Judiciary have been holding mobile courts throughout the country. In the 2015 peace treaty, both principles agreed to set up a Hybrid Court for South Sudan (HCSS) however to date the court has not been established. The only successful conviction in the country happened in 2018 after ten government soldiers were accused of killing a journalist and raping aid workers at Terrain hotel.  It should be noted that the military courts lack jurisdiction to try cases of crimes against civilians.
President Salva Kiir is expected to form a transitional government by February 2020 after missing the November deadline.

RelatedPosts

Khan’s supporters welcome his election, but his critics still wary due to his role in Kenya case

States must take the time to choose the right ICC Prosecutor

First time in history: a vote on who becomes new ICC Prosecutor

Previous Post

Will the ICC bow to the political pressure in Afghanistan?

Next Post

Africa most affected by refugee crisis

Related Posts

The newly elected ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan

Khan’s supporters welcome his election, but his critics still wary due to his role in Kenya case

by Millicent Zighe
February 22, 2021

...

The International Criminal Court (ICC) states parties convene at the World Forum Convention Center in The Hague from December 5-12, 2018, for the 17th session of the Assembly of state parties Credit: The ASP Flickr account

States must take the time to choose the right ICC Prosecutor

by Journalists For Justice
February 11, 2021

...

First time in history: a vote on who becomes new ICC Prosecutor

First time in history: a vote on who becomes new ICC Prosecutor

by Thomas Verfuss
February 10, 2021

...

African NGOs strongly advise for or against Khan as new ICC chief prosecutor

States split between Karim Khan and Fergal Gaynor for ICC Prosecutor

by Millicent Zighe
February 7, 2021

...

Kenyan Lawyer, Paul Gicheru makes first appearance before the ICC

Paul Gicheru gives exclusive interview to Kenyan newspaper

by Susan Kendi
February 7, 2021

...

123 states in search of new prosecutor

123 states in search of new prosecutor

by Thomas Verfuss
February 5, 2021

...

Next Post
Africa most affected by refugee crisis

Africa most affected by refugee crisis

Leave a Reply

Please Login to comment
Connect with
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
  Subscribe  
Notify of

FollowJFJustice

JFJ – Journalists for Justice

We call out impunity and raise victim voices to demand accountability for atrocity crimes wherever they occur.

Follow Us

Archives

Our Microsites

Never Again
INTAHE
BarometreVerite
The Point
No Result
View All Result
  • Confronting Impunity
  • Communities of Justice
  • Opinion
  • About US
  • Our Work

Copyright © 2019. Journalists for Justice has asserted its right to be recognized as creators and owners of the content here. Reproduction in part or in whole is permitted on condition that JFJ is acknowledged and notified.

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
wpDiscuz