South Sudan’s Minister of Justice Paulino Wanawilla on Friday presented to the cabinet a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and the African Union on the establishment of a hybrid court to prosecute those involved in crimes in South Sudan.
Article 1 of Chapter 5 of the peace agreement says that the transitional government will establish three new institutions to help bring justice to South Sudan. These institutions are the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing, the independent hybrid court for South Sudan, and the Compensation and Reparation Authority.
South Sudanese Minister of Information, Michael Makuei told reporters after the council of ministers meeting last Friday said the agreement states that the AU shall present guidelines for the establishment of the hybrid court and that the government of South Sudan shall thereafter enact a law for the establishment of the hybrid court.
Makuei said, “The document was presented … and it is rather bulky, the cabinet decided to defer it so that the ministers can have time to study the document and come and deliberate on it next time.”
The government spokesman also said that the ministers will go through copies of the amended constitution in their next meeting before passing it to the national assembly for deliberation.