The United Nations wants a special or hybrid court for South Sudan assisted by the international community to pursue serious and independent investigations of crimes against humanity, including war crimes.

In its report published today, 8 May, the UN concludes that national measures announced by the government do not meet the minimum requirements of accountability required by international human rights law.

The second human rights report by the UN Mission in South Sudan since the start of the conflict last year condemns the government forces of President Salva Kiir and the opposition forces of former vice president Riek Machar for abuses including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, rape, arbitrary arrests, and attacks against civilians.

According to the report, the two rival armies used extreme forms of violence as a means of spreading terror among the civil population.

They are further accused of attacking hospitals in Bentiu and Malakal. However, the report does not mention the total destruction of the MSF hospital in Leer by government forces and the allied Darfur rebel movement JEM.

The SPLA did not allow the peacekeeping mission access to the southern part of Unity State, including Leer, where some of the worse and largest scale crimes against humanity have been reported.

UNMISS says that the parties to the conflict have targeted civilians, largely along ethnic lines, and that attacks against UNMISS itself have also increased, endangering the peacekeeping mission’s ability to effect its mandate to protect civilians.

Expanded report

The report of the UN is a follow-up on an earlier interim report released in February. New elements of this report concern the documented involvement of JEM in alliance with the government army. The Darfur rebel group has been involved in several crimes against humanity including killings, gang-rape and looting, according to the report.

Hate speech

The UN report has also clarified its initial condemnation of hate speech over Bentiu Radio by opposition forces on April 15. After the army of Machar took over the state radio, the army reportedly called for calm and urged the population to leave the ethnic differences behind.

Later, however, a man who was identified by the UN as a 'SPLM Secretary General of Unity State' came on the air and stated in a mix of Nuer and local Arabic that Dinka SPLA and JEM “had raped Nuer women and now their wives were pregnant with Dinka and JEM babies.”

He called on young men to meet at the SPLA headquarters the next day in order to go to Dinka areas and do what the Dinka did to their wives and girls.

Hybrid court

UNMISS recommends that the national process investigating all the crimes to be complemented by international assistance through a special or hybrid court.

The international participation would help to ensure that all parties to the conflict are held accountable.

“By working side-by-side with South Sudanese institutions and experts, the confidence and the capacity of national institutions would be enhanced and real accountability could be achieved,” `UNMISS suggests.