Hold officials responsible over Mayom killings in S. Sudan: HRW
August 10, 2023 (NAIROBI) – Authorities in South Sudan should hold accountable those responsible for last year’s killings in Mayom County, Human Rights Watch said.
On August 8, 2022, videos and photographs circulated on social media that appeared to show South Sudan government forces executing captured fighters from an armed opposition group in Mayom County of the oil-rich Unity State.
The killings took place during an operations launched by Unity State governor following apparent attacks by South Sudan Patriotic Movement (SSPM) in which 12 people, including the county commissioner, died.
One video shows uniformed South Sudanese soldiers and a National Security officer handcuffing a man in a thatched hut and discussing burning it. Subsequent photographs show a hut on fire, with local reports saying the man was burned alive inside, while another video showed government forces shoot three unarmed men execution-style.
Despite public outrage over the reported killings, no one has been held to account one year later, the U.S-based human rights group said in a statement.
Earlier reports from the United Nations Panel of Experts on South Sudan and the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan have implicated high ranking commander and civilian leaders in the gruesome killings that occurred in Mayom.
In mid-August 2022, South Sudan’s military established an investigation committee and submitted its report to President Salva Kiir. The South Sudanese leader also formed his own probe committee, but its findings have never been made public.
Human Rights Watch expressed concerns that the impunity for serious crimes, including by government and rebel forces across South Sudan during the conflict and after the signing of the 2018 peace agreement has become the norm.
It said authorities have prosecuted a handful of security agents for crimes against civilians, but none have included senior military or civilian leaders.
The rights group urged the government to expedite the creation of the Hybrid Court for South Sudan, which is a key provision in the 2018 peace deal.
“Until then, South Sudan remains a country where the powerful can be responsible for egregious offenses and expect no consequence,” it stressed.
(ST)