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Amnesty International on Monday urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to maintain its arms embargo on South Sudan amid widespread violence against civilians by the government and former opposition forces.
The London-based group has accused fighters from the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) and Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in-Opposition (SPLA-IO) – both loyal to the former opposition leader and now the first vice president Riek Machar – of extrajudicial executions, forced displacement, torture and destruction of civilian property.
He said he documented such violations between April and June in Central Equatorial State, southwest of the capital Juba, against civilians accused of feeding National Salvation Front rebels and serving as informants.
“Earlier this year, when officials in South Sudan called for the lifting of the arms embargo, government soldiers shot civilians, burned houses, raped women and girls, and removed tens of thousands of people from their villages in the South of the country, “Amnesty International director for eastern and southern Africa, Deprose Mucsouth, said in a statement.
Authorities denied the allegations, however, with incumbent army spokesman Santo Domic telling the Anadolu Agency (AA) that they were not in the interest of peace in South Sudan.
“I don’t think any mind in its correct state can digest this. First of all, we in the SSPDF condemn any incidents against civilians in the country,” Domic said.
SPLM-IO Force Spokesman Lam Paul Gabriel called the Amnesty report “completely baseless and without substance”.
Amnesty International said it documented 110 structures destroyed in several attacks in Central Equatoria and said it saw a 400% spike in violence in the states of Jonglei, Lakes, Warrap and Western Equatoria over the same period in 2019.
“Our research reveals that SSPDF and SPLA-IO soldiers regularly violate international humanitarian law and fail to protect civilians. As these horrific attacks continue, it is vital that the UN Security Council calls on South Sudan to end these. war crimes and bringing the perpetrators to justice by maintaining the arms embargo in the country, “Muchena said.
Survivors of the attacks “described how government soldiers attacked residents with knives, poured boiling water on a woman, and ransacked homes and livestock,” Amnesty said, calling on the Security Council to maintain the arms embargo.
“Quite simply, the government of South Sudan has failed to protect its people. It would be irresponsible for the Security Council to suspend or lift the arms embargo now, in light of the horrendous human rights violations committed by government forces,” Muchena said.
Locals in the Greater Equatoria region told AA that they still witnessed fighting between the government and opposition forces, with their lives still at risk as they cannot move from one place to another because the forces of both. the parties continued to plunder their properties.
South Sudan, which split from its northern neighbor, Sudan in 2011, is faltering after years of civil war between President Salva Kiir’s government forces and Machar’s allies. The five-year conflict claimed nearly 400,000 lives, triggered a famine and created the largest refugee crisis in Africa since the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
According to Reuters, more than 190,000 people still find refuge in several UN-run camps, such as Juba.
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