UN experts accuse senior South Sudan officials of rights abuses
New UN report says officials should be criminally investigated and prosecuted for their part in abuses against civilians.
A United Nations-backed panel of investigators has claimed in a new report that several officials in South Sudan have committed serious human rights abuses and should be held accountable for their crimes.
Top government and military leaders were identified Monday in a new report from South Sudan’s UN Commission on Human Rights, detailing the state’s responsibility for widespread murder, rape and sexual slavery.
The commission — which has conducted a year-long investigation in six states in South Sudan and released a partial summary of its findings in March — said none of those named in the final report have been held accountable for their crimes.
“Over several years, our findings have consistently shown that impunity for serious crimes is a central cause of violence and misery faced by civilians in South Sudan,” said Yasmin Sooka, chair of the commission.
“So we’ve taken the step of naming more individuals who warrant criminal investigation and prosecution for their role in gross human rights violations.”
The report identifies Joseph Monytuil, governor of Unity State, along with Lieutenant General Thoi Chany Reat of the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces, in connection with state-sanctioned killings in Mayom County in August 2022.
Four captured rebel officers were summarily executed by government forces in killings that were videotaped and widely shared. Three were killed by firing squad and a fourth was burned alive in a hut.
The report also names Gordon Koang, the Koch district commissioner, accused of leading horrific attacks on civilians in neighboring Leer County between February and April 2022.
Other top officials in Warrap, Upper Nile, Jonglei and the Equatoria states were identified as warranting further scrutiny or investigation for their role in various abuses.
“The Commission has found that while the government of South Sudan has announced special commissions of inquiry for various situations, none have led to any accountability,” the panel said in a statement.
“Government and military personnel involved in these grave crimes will remain in office.”
The officials were not immediately available for comment, the Associated Press news agency said.
The government has accused the commission of interfering in its national affairs and rejected previous findings of the three-member panel.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, but plunged into a civil war two years later that devastated the world’s newest country.
Nearly 400,000 people died before a peace deal was signed in 2018, but the core principles of the deal remain unfulfilled and the country is torn apart by armed violence.
A promised African Union-led tribunal to prosecute perpetrators and bring justice to victims of war crimes never materialized.