S. Sudan rival forces accused of raping and killing civilians
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August 15, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan’s rival forces killed and raped
civilians, extensively looting their property, including humanitarian
goods, during and after clashes that occurred in Juba last month, a
New-York based rights body said.
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Arms and light weapons have been used by both warring parties in South
Sudan to commit abuses (Photo courtesy of SSANSA)
In many cases, according to Human Rights Watch, 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, the rights group said.
Clashes between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and the armed
opposition leader, Riek Machar clashed in the capital left over 270
people dead and displaced thousands.
The rights body mainly faulted government soldiers for the multiple
crimes committed on civilians in the young nation.
“A year after South Sudan’s leaders signed a peace deal, civilians are
dying, women are being raped, and millions of people are afraid to go
home,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch in a
report issued Monday.
“On August 12, the UN decided to send more peacekeepers to Juba but
put off a long-overdue arms embargo. The continued supply of arms only
helps fuel the abuses on a larger scale,” he added.
The latest violence came barely four months after the formation a
coalition government under a peace agreement signed in August 2015.
The rival factions agreed to integrate their forces and establish the
hybrid court.
Under the deal, however, the African Union Commission was to set up
the court, with South Sudanese and other African judges and staff to
be completed by October 2016.
This follows the series of documented cases of targeted killings,
rapes and gang rapes, beatings, looting, and harassment, often along
ethnic lines, said to have been committed several areas of the capital
and its outskirts.
“South Sudanese leaders have time and again failed to end abuses
against civilians, been unwilling to rein in abusive forces or ensure
justice for crimes by those under their command,” said Bekele.
“There is no more excuse for delay: top leaders need to be sanctioned
and an arms embargo imposed. The UN has to be more effective in
protecting civilians and the AU should move ahead with the hybrid
court,” he added.
Officials from the country’s two rival factions are yet to comment on
the damning report.
Meanwhile, the rights body has appealed to the United Nations and its
member countries to impose targeted sanctions, including asset freezes
and travel bans, on those responsible for serious human rights abuses
in South Sudan.
The African Union Commission and donors, it added, should proceed
without delay with preparations for a hybrid court to investigate and
try the most serious crimes committed since the start of South Sudan’s
new war in 2013, including during the recent fighting.
(ST)
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