South Sudan: African Union must finally establish special court

The newly elected leadership of the African Union (AU) must take more measures to fight impunity in South Sudan and finally establish a special court to deal with crimes against humanity in the country. This is what the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) calls for in an urgent appeal to the newly elected president of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat. “Without justice, there will be no lasting peace in South Sudan,” the letter says. “Any further delay in prosecution will lead to new human rights violations in the country, in which a civil war has been going on since December 2013.” The human rights organization emphasized that, according to the peace agreement signed in August 2015, the AU is supposed to establish a hybrid court consisting of international judges and judges from South Sudan. Meanwhile, the armed conflict in South Sudan continues. Last week, there were bloody clashes in the Malakal region.

“Given the ever-new crimes against humanity committed by all conflict parties, the AU’s failure to put an end to impunity can no longer be tolerated,” said Ulrich Delius, the STP’s Africa-expert. “If a majority of the AU states reject the International Criminal Court in The Hague, they must at least take credible measures to establish hybrid courts. If they do not, they must be accused of promoting impunity.”

According to the Peace Agreement, the Hybrid Court in South Sudan would have to be up and running as of April 2017. So far, however, the necessary measures have not yet been taken – and the AU has neither defined the new court’s mandate nor its mode of operation. This should have been done by October 2016.

The conflict parties in South Sudan are showing little willingness to actually hold accountable those who are responsible for the most severe human rights violations. At the end of last week, for example, South Sudan’s Information Minister, Michael Makuei Leuth, suggested to postpone the establishment of the Hybrid Court until there is peace in the country. Human rights organizations from South Sudan protested vehemently, accusing him of hypocrisy. Military courts have convicted a few soldiers from South Sudan for lootings and murder, but their superiors have so far managed to go unpunished.

Header Photo: UN Photos/Amanda Voisard