South Sudan: Remarks of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Mr. David Shearer (27.03.2019)

 

South Sudan: University of Juba – School of Medicine – Closes Until Further Notice (27.03.2019)

UPC: Press Statement – UPC Hands Over IPOD Summit/Council/Chair To DP (27.03.2019)

South Sudan: Dr. John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology – Suspension of the University Opening until further notice (25.03.2019)

South Sudan: The South Sudan Civil Society Forum demands fair trial for South Sudan Peace activist Peter Biar Ajak and others (20.03.2019)

ACTV: Where is the will by Security Agencies to fight Torture in Uganda? The time is now! (20.03.2019)

South Sudan Independent Boundaries Commission: Call for Submissions (19.03.2019)

Mzee ushers in the LDU like he did with the Crime Preventers before 2016!

Since the NRM has already addressed the other bottlenecks such as ideological disorientation, a weak state (no Army etc.) and market integration, we are now able to move decisively on building an integrated and self sustaining economy that is independent. Here independence has never meant isolation. It means participation in the World economy on an equal and comparative basis” (Yoweri Kaguta Museveni – ‘Speech at the opening of NRM MPs retreat, 2019’ 15.03.2019).

We have seen this movie before, we have seen the stages of building up a military parastatal organization to ensure and have enough guards in the streets ahead of the General Election. That was the Crime Preventers in 2015 and 2016. Since then it has been disbanded and stopped functioning. Even if it was founded in 2014, it would be fitting to see the similarities.

This happen in 2015:

President Y.K. Museveni on Tuesday the 18th August 2015, passed out 3,348 crime preventers after undergoing a seven weeks training at Police training school Kabalye in Masindi district under the theme: The fight against unemployment and poverty through enterprise partnership and production. The crime prevention and self-defense course was aimed at equipping the youths with skills necessary for job creation in a bid to fight poverty through enterprise partnerships. The crime preventers were drawn from higher institutions of learning throughout the country” (Uganda Police Force – ‘Pass out of Crime Preventers’ 18.08.2015).

Now in the 2019, the Local Defence Unit (LDU) is being ushered in, even earlier, than the regrouping and the impressive stature of National Crime Preventers Forum (NCPF), which was important and a group cleaning the slate for the state during and before the polls last time. We can anticipate this new unit doing the same. Even if it is more directly with guns and training, as the CP was more of police foot soldiers, whose less training and active by measures of the Police. The LDU is directly under the army and is a outfit directly there.

The President is clearly preparing to ensure the public to know of the amount of security organizations, soldiers and even LDU’s in the streets. This is the same he did with the Crime Preventers. LDU’s in this narrative makes sense. He has used the excuses of street violence and riots to create it, but will use it to intimidate during elections. Just like he did with the Crime Preventers and the President cannot use the same outfit again. Than, he will look ugly to the Election Observers, whose not following it steady.

LDU’s today:

This evening, I passed out 6,239 Local Defence Unit (LDU) trainees at Kaweweta Military Training School. The recruitees from Wakiso, Mukono and Kampala districts have completed 16 weeks of basic military and tactical training. In defending a country, you must look at the economics and find an affordable formula. You may not have such a big army but you must ensure it has the necessary strategic elements. For the UPDF, these elements are in place and we are enhancing them. We have the infantry which is easier and faster to train. It should have officers and men ready for duty. Then you have the reserves, like these LDUs, from whom we can recruit rifle men and machine gunners when necessary. When not on military duty, these reserves will be into other work like farming. But as the budget improves, we shall ensure they have frequent refresher courses. This LDU training is a robust programme. We focused a lot on the villages and some people thought they could destabilize Uganda by attacking towns because of heavy motor and human traffic” (Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, 15.03.2019).

He calls them reserves, he is calling them an extra army and the training of them must be for some reasons, other than riots and demonstrations. This is a clear vindictive tactic, both to show power over the people. Its not enough with the laws, restricting their political freedoms, liberties or even ability to act upon the supposed multi-party democracy it’s supposed to be. However, that is not enough, how easy it is to be a political criminal. That is why the Police Force doesn’t have enough manpower, neither the Courts or any part of the Legal System is there for citizens, but for the patronage of the President.

That is why he needs more security forces for the elections, to intimidate and show his strength. Because, the President and his Party doesn’t have the popularity or the public support. He needs guns, he needs guns in the streets to show his greatness. Therefore, the LDU’s comes in as a substitute for the Crime Preventers. He just need a new program to be set-off for the old ones.

The LDU’s are reserves now, but will get more vital, more funding and become important in the hot minutes before the polls. The LDU’s will be stationed all across the Republic and with time also get posts where its needed. The LDU’s will not be used for just stopping possible urban demonstrations. Because, the President wouldn’t invest this much, if he couldn’t use it for his needs. They are up and coming.

Don’t get shocked, don’t get confused, this is preparations for the 2021. Mzee has played this game before and the saga continues. Peace.

OHCHR: South Sudanese individuals can be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity even in other countries, say UN human rights experts (12.03.2019)

“Impunity cannot be allowed to continue.”

Geneva (12 March 2019) – The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan has identified 23 individuals over the past year who bear command or superior responsibility under international criminal law for serious crimes related to the conflict in South Sudan. Members of the Commission, mandated by the Human Rights Council to investigate human rights in South Sudan, told the Council this morning that these individuals, along with previously identified alleged perpetrators, could face justice in courts around the world, not just in South Sudan.

“We have not placed all of our eggs in one basket,” Chair of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, Yasmin Sooka, told the Human Rights Council this morning as she and her colleagues presented their more than 200 page report. “We have framed these crimes in multiple ways to allow future prosecutions to take place in jurisdictions inside and outside South Sudan,” she explained. “This allows for the prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity in states that are parties to relevant treaties on torture, enforced disappearance and attacks on UN personnel, for example.

In its third report to the Human Rights Council, the Commission noted that while the signing of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan in September 2018 had seen improvements in the overall situation in terms of security, peace, and economy, the situation in the Equatorias, in the southern part of the country, was extremely volatile with ongoing fighting in the Yei River Area between forces of the government and the National Salvation Front (NAS), which had not signed the Agreement. Thousands of civilians, the Commission told the Council, were still being forcibly displaced.

In this report, the Commission focused on incidents occurring between May and June 2018 in Unity State, Western Bahr el Ghazal, and Central Equatoria State, concluding that such incidents may amount to serious violations of human rights and of humanitarian law.

The Commission documented sexual violence, including brutal rapes including multiple gang rapes, sexual slavery, abductions, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, and mutilation of sexual organs as well as killings, at the hands of both government forces and those belonging to the opposition. The Commission noted UNICEF statements that in more than 25 per cent of all reported cases of conflict-related sexual violence, the victims were children.

“It has become commonplace to say that these crimes take place because impunity has become entrenched,” noted Ms. Sooka, “But that impunity cannot be allowed to continue.”

The Commission also noted increases in arbitrary detentions, torture, executions and enforced disappearances. These generated paranoia and fear in South Sudan, with civil society activists reporting they felt afraid to speak out. The Commission documented cases where prisoners had been held in shipping containers with no fresh air or toilets. Witnesses also described torture, including beating and whipping, pulling out of toenails, cutting, burning and electrocution.

The Commissioners said the signing of the Revitalized Peace Agreement had not delivered immediate improvement in the desperate humanitarian situation for the people of South Sudan. Due in large part to the conflict, 60 per cent of the South Sudanese population is severely food insecure, and there remain 2.2 million refugees and 1.9 million Internally Displaced Persons. The humanitarian situation is exacerbated by the deliberate obstruction of the work of humanitarian actors, the Commission noted, adding that South Sudan has been ranked the most dangerous place in the world for humanitarian workers for the third consecutive year.

The Commission reiterated its continued concern about the lack of progress in establishing the Transitional Justice mechanisms that were adopted in the2015 Peace Agreement and re-confirmed in the Revitalized Agreement of September 2018. “These mechanisms are essential for dealing with the past, preventing fresh violations, ensuring accountability and constructing a cohesive society,” said Commission member Barney Afako. Little or no progress had been made on establishing these mechanisms, said Commission members, calling on the Government of South Sudan to take urgent steps towards establishment of the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing, and the Compensation and Reparation Authority, and on both the Government of South Sudan and the African Union to establish the Hybrid Court for South Sudan.

“Despite these delays in the establishment of justice mechanisms within South Sudan,” underlined Commission member Andrew Clapham, “Perpetrators of violent crimes in South Sudan should not think they can escape justice, as they could be prosecuted in international courts or domestic courts in other countries.”

The Commission called on the region and the wider international community to invest politically and materially in the Transitional Justice mechanisms in South Sudan. “These are essential for building sustainable peace,” said Ms. Sooka, “As well as supporting the people of South Sudan in rebuilding all aspects of national life, especially the rule of law.”
ENDS

The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan was established by the Human Rights Council in March 2016 and extended in March 2017 and for a further year in March 2018, with a mandate to determine and report the facts and circumstances of, collect and preserve evidence of, and clarify responsibility for alleged gross violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes, including sexual and gender-based violence and ethnic violence, with a view to ending impunity and providing accountability.

For media queries, please contact: 
Doune Porter, Media Advisor, chrssmedia@ohchr.org /at +41 79 752 0486 or 
Rolando Gómez on rgomez@ohchr.org/+41 79 477 4411

South Sudan Alliance Federal Army (SSAFA): The Coalition of two Political Movements’ armies (08.03.2019)