Commission on Human Rights Urges South Sudan to make peace and justice a reality (18.09.2018)

South Sudanese civilians continue to live in complete insecurity as the violence is ongoing, arbitrary detention and torture at the hands of the National Security Service are on the rise, some 6 million people – around 60 per cent of the population — live under “emergency” food insecurity and humanitarian assistance convoys are routinely attacked.

GENEVA, Switzerland, September 18, 2018 -The Commissionto use the opportunity created by the renewal of the peace agreement to ensure justice and accountability for the victims of the many crimes committed against its population.

While welcoming in its oral update before the Human Rights Council the “Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan” signed on 12 September, the Commission expressed doubts that the peace deal would endure as deadly fighting between opposing parties and attacks on United Nations peacekeepers had resumed less than 24 hours later.

South Sudanese civilians continue to live in complete insecurity as the violence is ongoing, arbitrary detention and torture at the hands of the National Security Service are on the rise, some 6 million people – around  60 per cent of  the population — live under “emergency” food insecurity and humanitarian assistance convoys are routinely attacked.

The many victims of the five-year conflict need justice if communities are to heal and rebuild the fabric of their society. The ongoing sexual violence against women and girls in South Sudan is pervasive and requires a sustained commitment to holding perpetrators accountable and addressing impunity.

“South Sudan is at war with its citizens and currently stands at the crossroads between hope and peace, on the one hand, and more missed opportunities, on the other hand,” said the Commission’s Chairperson Yasmin Sooka.  “Sustainable peace requires justice and accountability for serious crimes”

Timeline

The Commission in particular urged the African Union and the Government of South Sudan to agree on a timeline to fast-track the long-awaited Hybrid Court for South Sudan, the Commission on Truth, Healing and Reconciliation and the Compensation and Reparations Authority, all set out in Chapter V of the Peace Agreement to render justice and facilitate national reconciliation.

“Six months later, we are still waiting for this signature [by the President of South Sudan or his foreign Minister], which is required by the African Union to set up this court,” stressed Ms. Sooka.

The Commission, which includes two other international human rights law experts Andrew Clapham and Barney Afako, was mandated by the Council to monitor and report on violations, establish their circumstances, identify perpetrators and collect and preserve evidence that could be used to try perpetrators of serious crime. It recently visited South Sudan to meet with senior government officials, UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), humanitarian workers, civil society, the religious communities, as well as internally displaced persons. It also visited refugee camps in Eastern Darfur in Sudan, Arua in Uganda and Kakuma in Kenya, to talk with refugees from South Sudan as well as representatives of the opposition parties. The Commission is due to submit its report to the Human Rights Council in March 2019.

New attacks

Just hours after the revitalized peace agreement, government forces (SPLA) were alleged to have attacked Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) forces in Yei River State, South of Juba, resulting in the deaths of 17 members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). Moreover, two days ago, on 15 September, a SPLA soldier shot in the leg a UN peacekeeper in Yei about 1.4 km from a UNMISS base. Yei town experienced heavy shooting throughout the night, prompting the UNMISS to put it on security alert.

South Sudan is considered to be one of the most dangerous places in the world for humanitarian workers, with more than 13 aid workers killed this year alone.  In April, 10 aid workers were abducted and a UN peacekeeper killed in an ambush targeting a humanitarian convoy. In Wau, between June and late August, access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance was denied “for security reasons”, the Commission’s Chair noted.

Despite the stated commitment of the Government of South Sudan to address sexual violence, little has been done. According to a 2017 study by the Global Women’s Institute and the International Rescue Committee more than 65 per cent of women and girls in South Sudan have reportedly experienced physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lives. Women in South Sudan have been treated by government soldiers and armed actors to the conflict including local militias as spoils of the conflict. They also experience sexual violence during inter-communal violence between rival ethnic groups clashing over land and cattle and live with the threat of sexual violence on a daily basis which is fuelled by the lack of accountability and justice for these crimes.

And yet the Commission noted that, under pressure by the international community, the Government of South Sudan could muster the political will to combat impunity, as evidenced by the recent judgment in the Terrain Case, in which a Military Tribunal handed down jail sentences to ten soldiers for murder, rape, sexual harassment, theft and armed robbery.

Terrain case

While the victims in the Terrain case have welcomed the verdict, they have expressed their disappointment that only the foot soldiers were prosecuted while those with command responsibility have gone unpunished.

The Commission recalled that UNMISS in 2017 investigated and documented that more than 217 South Sudanese women were gang raped by government security forces including at SPLA checkpoints in Juba in the same cycle of violence of July 2016. To date, none of the perpetrators have been held accountable and nor have any of these women received any compensation from the government.

“The plight and suffering of South Sudanese women and girls can no longer be ignored; they urgently deserve justice, compensation and medical and trauma support services. The Terrain trial verdict should not be the exception, but the rule in South Sudan from now on,” declared Ms. Sooka.

Unaccompanied minors

The appalling living conditions have displaced 1.7 million people inside South Sudan. Another 2.5 million South Sudanese have fled the country, including more than 65,600 unaccompanied minors who crossed the border into neighbouring countries since the outbreak of South Sudan’s civil war in 2013, according to UNCHR.

Amongst the refugee population are a number of unaccompanied minors — 65,600 of them according to the UN Refugee agency (UNHCR) — who crossed the border into neighboring countries since the outbreak of South Sudan’s civil war in 2013. These unaccompanied minors are vulnerable to child-soldier recruitment, sexual abuse and exploitation, child labour, drug abuse, criminality, and poverty. They experience intense anxiety and trauma due to separation; they do not know where their family members are, or whether they are alive or dead; in addition they are left to fend for themselves.  UNHCR, UNICEF and the ICRC are doing incredible work in dealing with unaccompanied minors. UNHCR ought to have more resources to carry out their work, declared the Commission.

Given the acute levels of food insecurity in the country, the Government of South Sudan would be expected  to do its utmost to facilitate unimpeded access to UNMISS and humanitarian organizations. Instead the authorities resort to constant bureaucratic stalling which denies access and more alarmingly. Targeted attacks against humanitarian convoys together with these obstructions make it almost impossible to deliver emergency relief.

Death penalty

Finally, the Commission deplored that the Government of South Sudan has not abolished the death penalty or put in place a moratorium on executions despite calls from civil society and the international community to do so, with three executions taking place in May alone this year. A further 40 death-row prisoners have been transferred from state and county prisons to Wau and Juba central prisons, which are the only prisons equipped with execution chambers.  The Commission said it feared that the next few months could see many more executions among the 345 death-row prisoners detained across the country.

 

Statement to the Media on the European Union Parliament Resolution on Uganda (17.09.2018)

PM Kheire says “no outside mediation” in 5 States Non Co-Operation Standstill: However, isn’t that all Villa Somalia has to offer?

I have hard time taking Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Kheire or Khayre seriously, when concerning foreign mediation in Somali affairs. As that has been the ordeal for so long, not that I don’t want the Federal Government of Somalia to be sovereign and work on its own. However, with the recent International Stakeholders Conferences in Europe like in London and in Brussels in 2018. There is clearly this, plus the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Saudi Arabian interference in Somali Affairs. While also United States and United Nations are also directly involved, either with arms/drones or with governance. This being UNSOM or AMISOM who are clearly active and vital for security in Somalia.

The PM states for no need for foreign mediation after several states are saying no to work directly with FGS and Kheire/Farmaajo after they are tired of no grip of what they see as their grievances towards Mogadishu and Villa Somalia.

Therefore, this is statement the PM had:

Mr Khayre, however, asserted that the days of Somali leaders seeking foreign mediation on internal issues were over. He reiterated that all differences should be sorted out through compromises. “We welcome that all grievances are cleared through dialogue and compromises, considering the interest of the Somali people,” said Mr Khayre” (…) ““We cannot accept people saying that Mogadishu’s security was unreliable,” Mr Khayre stressed. “This is the Somali capital. A city in which we have all invested and stands as a symbol of our sovereignty,” he added” (ABDULKADIR KHALIF – ‘Somali PM rejects foreign mediation in internal affairs’ 17.09.2018).

I feel the PM is not the right man for this message, as the FGS truly need the AMISOM and UNSOM to operate, as well as the foreign funding of the government. Even if the Somali people are the best with Mobile Money and remittance to their own. It is still at the levels of foreign donations that is running the government. As well, as Farmaajo was recently hanging out in Beijing for participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Because the International involvement is always welcomed with projects and with donations, that is why even the state of Puntland had to write a statement when the Germans pulled out from a road project now in September. Therefore, Kheire, knows this perfectly well, but still acts like its a nation without any interference.

Kheire wants to be the big-man and wants the FGS to be vital and important, but right now it needs to show progress and value. As the states saying its stopped, is because they are tired of the shows and none actions. Therefore, an internal mediation isn’t believable as he cannot send the Somali National Army to silence these ones this time. This time Kheire might need it, as the states might not settle with just meeting the President and the Prime Minister. They need to show more flex and that they are seriously addressing their concerns, not only for safety, but the other measures that are in question. As the FGS seems more like a floating balloon, than steady government institutions.

Kheire should feel this too, as he has been traveling between all stakeholders and partners, except for when he is settling the score and undermining the Lower House of late. Therefore, this sort of speech and talk is more swagger, than the reality on the ground. If he was that sovereign, he wouldn’t need the Brussels and the London Stakeholders Conferences within the calendar year. Alas, that is is the case. Therefore, he should follow the asked outside mediation and secure wishes of the states, which has stopped to directly co-operate with Villa Somalia.

The PM has to act up and be humble, show humility and even some grace, but who knows if he has it in him. Peace.

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UNHCR calls on South Sudan parties to deliver a lasting peace (17.09.2018)

UNHCR reiterates its call that all parties fully implement and uphold the deal for South Sudan to maintain a sustainable and permanent peace.

GENEVA, Switzerland, September 17, 2018 – UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes the signing of the Revitalized Peace Agreement on 13 September in Addis Ababa between the South Sudan warring parties. This is a crucial milestone towards permanent ceasefire and lasting peace for millions of war beleaguered South Sudanese.

UNHCR reiterates its call that all parties fully implement and uphold the deal for South Sudan to maintain a sustainable and permanent peace.

UNHCR stands ready to support all parties who genuinely strive to achieve an inclusive peace process, which includes a provision in the signed accord requiring the agreement be disseminated to the 2.5 million South Sudanese living in exile across six countries.

“The peace process must include the voices of refugees and those displaced inside of South Sudan to bring an end to more than five years of senseless suffering” said Arnauld Akodjenou , UNHCR Special Adviser on the South Sudan situation. “It’s important that refugees participate, understand and support the peace agreement for it to be fully effective.”

Representatives of South Sudanese refugees came face-to-face with their leaders in a meeting in Khartoum on 4th September, pressing upon their demands for inclusion in peace building efforts.

South Sudan continues to generate the largest refugee crisis on the African continent. The credibility of the unfolding peace process rests on its ability to end nearly five years of violence and suffering for the people of South Sudan, and to meet the aspirations of over four million mostly women and children forcibly displaced by the conflict.

South Sudan Civil Society Forum – Press Release (17.09.2018)

‘Wind of hope’ blowing through Horn of Africa says UN chief, as Ethiopia and Eritrea sign historic peace accord (17.09.2018)

NEW YORK, USA, September 17, 2018 –  There is a powerful wind of hope blowing across the Horn of Africa region, said UN chief António Guterres on Sunday, in Saudi Arabia to witness the signing of a peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea, ending decades of simmering conflict.

Saudi Arabia facilitated the agreement, and in a message on Twitter, the Foreign Ministry said that the accord, signed in Jeddah “is a historic milestone for the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea, and will contribute to strengthening security and stability in the region at large”.

“The signature of the peace agreement between the President of Eritrea and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia is indeed a historic event,” said the Secretary-General, speaking at a press conference following the signing in Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city, on the Red Sea coast, with Foreign Minister Adel Aljubeir.

“We have seen a conflict that has lasted for decades, ending, and that has a very important meaning in a world where we see, unfortunately, so many conflicts multiplying, and lasting forever,” added Mr. Guterres.

He expressed his “deep appreciation” for the role played by Saudi Arabia, before paying tribute “on one hand to the courage, the vision, the wisdom of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia – who has had the capacity to overcome enormous resistance from the past and open a new chapter in the history of his country – and also the way the President of Eritrea has promptly responded to his peace initiatives.”

The thaw in relations between the neighbouring countries, who fought a bloody, unresolved war in the late 1990s, began in earnest in June, when Ethiopia’s newly-elected leader, Abiy Ahmed, made peace overtures to his counterpart, which have now come to fruition.

Seizing on the implications for the whole region, Mr. Guterres said that the agreement meant that “there is a wind of hope blowing in the Horn of Africa. It is not only the peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea – it is the fact that tomorrow and the day after tomorrow we will have, here in Saudi Arabia, the President of Djibouti and the President of Eritrea – two countries that have also been at odds with each other.”

According to news reports, Eritrea and Djibouti announced on Friday that they would also normalize diplomatic relations with each other following a falling out on the border, in 2008, which left several dead and resulted in prisoners being taken on both sides.

The UN chief also noted the peace agreement between the President and his former Vice President in South Sudan, that was signed on Thursday – in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa – as another indicator of real diplomatic movement across the Horn of Africa and its borders.

“I want to say that this window of hope is enormously important in a world where, unfortunately, hope has been very scarce,” added the Secretary-General.

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