South Sudan: Commission of Inquiry is a key opportunity to address ongoing abuses

As South Sudan approaches its third month of a conflict marked by violence against civilians, Amnesty International urges the AUPSC and those sitting on the Commission to interpret its mandate in the strongest terms to enable criminal investigations and prosecutions of those responsible for gross human rights abuses. [...] Since then, thousands of people have been killed in a conflict that has been accompanied by sustained violence against civilians and civilian objects, and between soldiers and militias from the country's two largest ethnic communities - the Dinka and the Nuer. [...] Its stated purpose is to “investigate the human rights violations and other abuses committed during the armed conflict in South Sudan, and make recommendations on the best way and means to ensure accountability, reconciliation and healing among all South Sudanese communities.” The Commission’s mandate includes the investigation of human rights abuses by all parties to the conflict and the compilat [...] This inclusion of accountability is in marked contrast with past peace agreements in South Sudan, including the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the agreement that ended the war between the SPLM and Sudan and ultimately led to the creation of South Sudan in 2011. [...] The CPA did not contain measures to bring perpetrators of abuses to justice or to compensate the victims of these abuses.