How was wrong doing to be punished.

African Union forms commission of inquiry into South Sudan conflict


March 7, 2014 (JUBA) - The African Union has established a commission of inquiry to investigate human rights violations and crimes committed during South Sudan’s outbreak of violence in mid-December last year.

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo heads the five-member body, which also includes four other distinguished members.

Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the AU Commission chairperson said the inquiry body was established in implementation of its Peace and Security Council (PSC) decision, which was made by heads of states and governments.

Its mandate, she stressed, would be to “investigate 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.”

Zuma further said the commission of inquiry was established after consultations with the different parties to the conflict as well as the armed opposition groups.

Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani, Justice Sophia Akuffo, president of the African Court on Human Rights based in Arusha, Bineta Diop, AU special envoy for women, peace and security, and Professor Pacifique Manirakiza, a member of the African Commission on Human Rights based in Banjul, also constitute the commission of inquiry.

The commission will, among other duties, establish the immediate and remote causes of the conflict; investigate the human rights violations and abuses committed by all parties from 15 December 2013; establish facts and circumstances that may have led to that amount to such violations and any crimes that may have been perpetrated.

Meanwhile a technical and administrative secretariat based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, will support the five-member commission, according to the AU.

CIVIL SOCIETY CALLS

The AU’s move came a day after South Sudanese civil society organisations, with support from organisations operating in Africa wrote to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) demanding a resolution condemning the serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law that have taken place in South Sudan since the outbreak of violence on 15 December last year.

"We also urge the ACHPR to advocate for the immediate establishment of the Commission of Inquiry called for in the 30 December 2013 communiqué from the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC)," the group said its 6 February statement.

"In order to secure the sustained commitment of the government of South Sudan to protection of human rights in accordance with the African Charter, we call on the ACHPR to visit South Sudan under its promotional mandate and to call for the ratification of regional and international human rights instruments," it added.

Over 10,000 people have died and nearly a million displaced in the violence, which erupted after a dispute between the presidential guards in the capital, Juba.

The US-based Human Rights Watch, in a statement issued last week, accused both pro-government and opposition forces of committing crimes, including killings, rape and abductions of civilians during the over 10-weeks conflict.

But the country’s civil society groups said South Sudan must commit to numerous long-term improvements in order to better protect and promote human rights.

"Comprehensive judicial reforms are necessary if the judiciary is to meet minimum standards of professionalism and independence, particularly if it is to play a role in holding the perpetrators of the recent violence to account. The ACHPR should call for and support such comprehensive reformsand call on the government of South Sudan to devote adequate human and financial resources to the judicial sector," it urged.

The ACHPR should also ensure that its guidelines on the right to fair trial and legal assistance in Africa are adequately disseminated in South Sudan and integrated into national law, the group further advised.

It also highlighted the "weaknesses" in the South Sudan Human Rights Commission, including insufficient human and financial resources and its susceptibility to political pressure have left it unable to adequately respond to the current crisis.

"The ACHPR should call upon the government of South Sudan to ensure that the Human Rights Commission is fully independent and that it benefits from adequate resources to carry out its mandate, in accordance with provisions of the Paris Principles," its statement noted.

(ST)