Next to Nigeria, South Sudan military authorities routinely violate civil rights while the government protects the crime, Amnesty report reveals
South Sudan’s Authorities Allow Serious Human Rights Abuses to Flourish and go Unpunished – Report
Human rights movement Amnesty International has accused South Sudanese authorities of lack of independence as they have allowed allowing human rights abuses, war crimes and crimes against humanity to go unpunished.
In a report released Oct. 7, Amnesty stated: Two and a half years after South Sudan gained its independence, soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir Mayardit and then Vice President Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon clashed in the country’s capital, igniting an armed conflict between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the national army, and armed opposition groups including the SPLA-In Opposition (SPLA-IO). Both government and opposition forces have committed crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations and abuses during the conflict, which saw thousands of civilians killed, hundreds of thousands displaced and countless people raped, tortured, arbitrarily detained or forcibly disappeared.
Amnesty noted that despite investigation committees and various reports that are compiled on the violence that resulted from the internal war that broke out in December 2013, authorities continue to “deny credible reports implicating the armed forces in serious human rights violations.
When the President does respond by setting up investigation committees, they lack independence and impartiality and, with the one exception, do not result in criminal trials”.
