Human rights in South Sudan
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Human rights in South Sudan are a contentious issue, owing at least in part to the country's violent history. Campaigns of atrocities against civilians during the Second Sudanese Civil War have been attributed to the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement.[1] In the SPLA/M's attempt to disarm rebellions among the Shilluk and Murle, they burned scores of villages, raped hundreds of women and girls and killed an untold number of civilians.[1] Civilians alleging torture claim fingernails being torn out, burning plastic bags dripped on children to make their parents hand over weapons and villagers burned alive in their huts if rebels were suspected of spending the night there. In 2010, prior to South Sudanese independence the following year, the CIA issued a warning that "over the next five years ... a new mass killing or genocide is most likely to occur in southern Sudan."[1] In May 2011, the SPLA allegedly set fire to over 7,000 homes in Unity state.[2] The United Nations Human Rights Council reported many of these violations, and the frustrated director of one Juba-based international aid agency called them "human rights abuses off the Richter scale".[1]
There has been little documentation of human rights issues in South Sudan since independence.
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d "Sudan: Transcending tribe". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 30 April 2011. Cite error: The named reference "aljazeera" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ "SPLA set fire to over 7,000 homes in Unity says Mayom county official". Sudan Tribune. 24 May 2011. Retrieved 9 July 2011.