Violence Continues in South Sudan Despite Peace Deal
The U.N.’s Commission on Human Rights released a report on South Sudan showing that attacks against civilians intensified in 2020. A commission member said the scale of violence and weapons suggested the involvement of state forces or external actors (Reuters)
UN Mission in South Sudan Warns of Potential for New Violence
Head of the UN Mission in South Sudan David Shearer said efforts to unite government and rebel soldiers, whose unification was promised in the country’s 2018 peace deal, have reached a standstill. He warned of new violence as soldiers leave joint training sites (Al Jazeera)
UN Panel: South Sudanese Officials Embezzled $36 Million
A UN commission accused South Sudanese officials of embezzling at least $36 million since 2016 with help from international banks and corporations. Years of conflict have hamstrung South Sudan’s crude oil production, the government’s primary revenue source (Al Jazeera)
UN: Dozens Killed in Confrontations Between South Sudanese Forces, Civilians
The United Nations said at least seventy people were killed and dozens more wounded in South Sudan’s Warrap State during confrontations between soldiers and civilians. The violence broke out after residents refused to relinquish their guns, a requirement of the country’s recent peace agreement, and rapidly spread to multiple villages, according to South Sudanese officials. The United Nations dispatched a peacekeeping patrol to the area (Al Jazeera)
East African Court Orders South Sudan’s President Kiir to Reinstate Fired Judges
President Salva Kiir must reinstate thirteen judges after the East African Court of Justice ruled he violated two constitutions and a regional treaty by sacking the judges in 2017 (Daily Nation)
Intercommunal Clashes Erupt in South Sudan
Nearly three hundred people were killed in an outbreak of intercommunal violence on Saturday in South Sudan’s eastern state of Jonglei, including a Doctors Without Borders staffer, government officials said (BBC)
Watchdog Calls for Renewal of UN Arms Embargo Against South Sudan
Amnesty International called for the UN Security Council to extend an arms embargo in South Sudan after the organization’s observers reported that both government and opposition forces had illegally bought new weapons in direct contravention of restrictions (Amnesty International)
South Sudan Rejects Human Rights Violation Accusations
Samuel Luate Lominsuk, the director-general for multilateral affairs of South Sudan, pushed back against the UN Security Council’s designation of South Sudan as a serious human rights violator. Lominsuk claimed that his country deeply respects human rights and that it would continue to make efforts to improve them (Voice of America)
South Sudan Reaches Deal for Unity Government
Opposition leader Riek Machar was sworn in as vice president to President Salva Kiir as part of a power-sharing deal (Washington Post)
South Sudanese Leaders Agree to Form Government
President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar agreed to establish a coalition government two days before the official deadline during peace talks in Juba (Associated Press)
South Sudan Leaders Meet to Discuss Unity Government
President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar are due to meet in Juba today ahead of a Saturday deadline to form a unity government (Reuters)
South Sudan Opposition Rebel Group Releases Prisoners
The armed forces of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition rebel group released seventy-eight women and fifty children it abducted in 2018 (United Nations)
U.S. Diplomat Urges Formation of South Sudan Unity Government
Tibor Nagy, U.S. Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, called on South Sudan’s rival leaders to meet the upcoming February 22 deadline to establish a unity government (Voice of America)
South Sudan President Pardons Dozens
President Salva Kiir pardoned thirty-one prisoners in a goodwill measure to continue the country’s peace process, according to state media (Reuters)
South Sudan Sets New Deadline for Unity Government
After talks in Juba, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir said that he and rebel leader Riek Machar have agreed to uphold a cease-fire and form a transitional unity government by February, even if the two parties have not resolved their disputes by that time (Voice of America)
South Sudan Opens Tribal for Security Forces
The country opened a special court to try members of its National Security Service. Hundreds of the service’s officers have been accused of committing human rights abuses (Voice of America)
UN Sends Peacekeepers to South Sudan
The UN mission in the country deployed seventy-five peacekeeping troops to central South Sudan following reports that nearly eighty people have been killed and more than a hundred others injured in recent communal violence (United Nations)
UN Reports Details Violations of South Sudan Peace Deal
The national security service recruited some ten thousand troops from President Salva Kiir’s ethnic stronghold in a violation of the country’s peace deal, a new UN report found. The deal calls for a joint military force of government and opposition fighters (Associated Press)
South Sudanese Leaders Extend Peace Deadline
President Salva Kiir and his main rival, rebel leader Riek Machar, agreed to extend a November 12 deadline to form a transitional government by one hundred days. It is the second extension since a peace deal was signed in September 2018 (Agence France-Presse)
South Sudanese Opposition Group Seeks Negotiation Delay
Former rebel leader Riek Machar called for a six-month delay on a deadline to form a unity government, a cornerstone of a peace deal that was signed in September 2018 but has been stalled (Reuters)
South Sudanese Government and Rebel Groups Hold Peace Talks
Leaders from Sudan and Ethiopia are in Juba today for a round of peace talks between the South Sudanese government and rebel groups. The two sides had set a mid-November deadline to reach a power-sharing deal. (Associated Press)
Watchdog Details Corporate Beneficiaries of South Sudan War
A new report by a Washington, DC–based watchdog group found that politicians and military officials it says helped to destabilize South Sudan were backed by multinational corporations and other actors from China to the United Kingdom (Sentry)
South Sudan Parties Agree to Form Government
President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar agreed to form a transitional government by November 12, according to the country’s information minister (Reuters)
South Sudanese Exiled Leader Returns for Talks
Riek Machar, a rebel commander who left South Sudan last year after a pact to end the country’s civil war, is in Juba to conclude negotiations around the peace deal (Al Jazeera)
South Sudan Activists Demand Unity Government
South Sudan’s Civil Society Forum announced a ninety-day countdown to the November deadline to form a unity government pursuant to a 2018 peace agreement (Agence France-Presse)