South Sudanese authorities have arrested civil society activists and a politician and closed down a radio station and an academic think-tank, signaling a new wave of repression in response to calls for peaceful protests, said Amnesty International.
In a press release last Friday, the international human rights watchdog said the uptick in arbitrary arrests and other measures come after the People’s Coalition for Civil Action (PCCA), a recently-formed umbrella group of government critics, called for peaceful country-wide protests on 30 August to force the government to step down, citing “failed leadership”.
"We are witnessing a new wave of repression emerging in South Sudan targeting the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly," Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for East and Southern Africa said. "Peaceful protests must be facilitated rather than cracked down upon or prevented with arrests, harassment, heavy security deployment or any other punitive measures.”
In the lead-up to the planned protests, the country’s National Security Service (NSS) arrested Kuel Aguer Kuel, the former caretaker governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State and one of the PCCA’s co-founders in the capital, Juba, on 2 August. The authorities continue to hold him at Juba Central Prison with very limited access to his family.
Amnesty International says Aguer has been charged with five offenses against the state including subverting constitutional government; insurgency, banditry, sabotage, or terrorism; causing disaffection among police force or defense forces; publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to Southern Sudan; and undermining the authority of or insulting the president. Two other co-founders, Ibrahim Awolich and Rajab Mohandis went into hiding in fear of arrest. The authorities also closed down the Sudd Institute, a think-tank Awolich works for.
Amnesty International adds that it has documented an increase in arbitrary arrests across the country in the days leading up to the planned protests. Between 25 and 28 August, four more men were arrested in the southern town of Yei, including a bishop, on suspicion of supporting the PCCA and mobilizing people to take part in the planned protests. They are held in a Military Intelligence detention facility and were charged with treason, a crime punishable by death under South Sudanese law, and with participating in a gathering with intent to promote public violence, breaches of the peace or bigotry.
"On 27 August, the NSS briefly arrested three media workers in Bor, a town north of the capital Juba. That same day in the morning, in Wau, western South Sudan, the NSS arrested three civil society members who were distributing T-shirts for a peaceful walk to raise awareness on gender-based violence before releasing them later that day. At least two other men were arrested in relation to the peaceful walk and the NSS prevented the walk from happening," the press release stated.
Internet shutdown
The human rights watchdog says it started receiving reports of internet disruptions on the eve of the planned protests which lasted until late afternoon of Monday, 30 August. From their investigations, there is strong evidence of network disruptions. Amnesty International suspects that the internet shutdown may have been a deliberate attempt by the authorities to derail the protests.
“Internet shutdowns and disruptions adversely affect people’s ability to exercise their rights to freedom of information, expression, association and peaceful assembly. The South Sudanese authorities and internet service providers must clarify their role in the disruption,” Muchena said.
Amnesty International says it received more reports of harassment of civil society actors across the country including in Juba, Yei, Bor and Wau, with some suspecting they were being surveilled by security forces in the week since the aborted protests.
The PCCA was formed on 30 July by a group of South Sudanese politicians, civil society members, leaders of think tanks. In its declaration, it condemns what it says are fundamental problems in South Sudan, including a lack of basic services, corruption, unemployment, lack of accountability, and respect for human rights. Citing failed leadership as the cause of these problems, it is calling on the current leadership, including President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar, to step down.
South Sudanese authorities have prevented protests in the recent past. In July 2019, arrests, threats, and heavy deployment of the military derailed protests called by the Red Card Movement in Juba, deterring protesters from taking to the streets of the capital.