NEW YORK - Why do abuses and atrocities keep happening in South Sudan?
Mostly because perpetrators keep getting away with abuses and atrocities, according to Human Rights Watch.
Last week marked the anniversary of South Sudan’s descent into a brutal civil war. The conflict started as a political dispute, then took ethnic undertones with civilians being targeted on the basis of ethnicity and perceived political allegiance.
Nearly 400,000 people have died.
All parties have committed serious abuses amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A 2018 peace deal led to the formation of a unity government drawn from belligerent forces, but fighting continues, as do wartime abuses.
That deal, based on a 2015 effort, envisioned the establishment of an African-Union-led Hybrid Court for South Sudan to address the conflict-related crimes.
The South Sudanese government dragged its feet, then announced in January 2021 that it had approved the establishment of the court, but since then… Not much.
It’s time for the African Union to set up the court.
If perpetrators are not held responsible for their crimes, those crimes will keep happening.
