Ivan Simonovic, the top human rights official at the United Nations, yesterday alleged that the South Sudanese government “systematically razed villages” even after the signing of the August 2015 peace agreement.
The UN official says ‘rhetoric’ about peace is being used to cover up abuses that continue to be perpetrated by the various parties to the conflict.
Simonovic told the UN Security Council in a briefing, “The reconciliatory rhetoric propagated by government and opposition actors has deflected from the fact that the parties to the conflict continue to attack, kill, abduct, rape, arbitrarily detain, and forcefully displace civilians, and pillage and destroy their property.”
“In the 6 months since the signing of the peace agreement, a scorched earth strategy has continued in which civilians were burned alive in their homes, their livestock raided and their means of livelihood destroyed. In the Greater Upper Nile region, Government forces systematically razed villages to the ground in what appears to be a deliberate strategy to deprive perceived opposition supporters of any basis of securing a living, thus forcing their displacement,” he said.
Simonovic, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights and former Justice Minister of Croatia, referred to “horrific” violence, citing the example of an attack in Leer County, Unity State.
“A survivor told our staff that her village was attacked by a mix of SPLA soldiers and armed youth in late October. She described how the attackers shot and killed her husband and then locked up her grandfather in a storage room and burned him alive,” he said.
The UN official also referred to “new theatres of violence… notably in the Equatorias.”
“In recent months, allegations of unlawful and prolonged detention, mistreatment and extrajudicial killings of civilians have been documented, particularly in Western Equatoria,” he told the UN Security Council.
“An increasing number of armed defence groups have emerged in response to the government’s highly militarized approach to addressing insecurity. With the diffusion of armed conflict in all parts of the country, and the creation of local armed groups fighting against government troops, South Sudan faces the risk of fragmentation and related human rights violations,” he added.
Simonovic called on the United Nations to support the African Union in establishing transitional justice mechanisms for South Sudan, as outlined in the August peace agreement.