South Sudan conflict victim calls for justice
October 28, 2014 (KAMPALA) – A victim of the Juba massacre has warned South Sudan’s warring parties to refrain from rushing a deal to unify the country’s rival factions without prosecuting the perpetrators of last December’s killings.
Last week, Tanzania’s ruling party invited the rival factions of South Sudan’s governing SPLM to the northern town of Arusha to iron out their differences ahead of final peace talks in Addis Ababa.
David Lieth was among 300 Nuer men rounded up by security forces between 17 and 19 December in Juba’s Gudele area.
In an interview with Sudan Tribune on Tuesday, Lieth said that the SPLM as a party should be held responsible for the killings unless it arrests those who participated in the attacks, adding that the massacre that occurred could be considered a crime against the humanity.
He says the recent meeting in Arusha reflected that the rival factions were out of touch with the suffering of the South Sudanese people and were only concerned with their own interests.
Lieth says many of those who subsequently lost their lives were civilians and had played no military or political role in the current conflict.
“We were civilians. We are not military personnel. We are not politicians. We are not members of the political bureau. We are not the members of the SPLM. We are not members of [the] liberation council. We are just ordinary people citizens of South Sudan,” said Lieth.
He said true reconciliation could not take place in South Sudan until the government admits responsibility for the killing of innocent civilians and brings the perpetrators to justice.
“We cannot say that reconciliation could not take place, but reconciliation should come after recognition [of the killings],” said Lieth.
“Should there be no accountability it means nothing to make reconciliation between the warring parties,” said Lieth, adding that steps should be taken to address the root causes of the conflict.
South Sudan erupted in violence in mid-December last year after an internal rift in the ruling SPLM turned violent, reigniting tribal tensions across the country.
The fighting has pitted government troops loyal to president Salva Kiir, who hails from the Dinka, tribe, against rebel forces aligned with former vice-president Riek Machar, a Nuer.
Lieth says he blames the government for instigating the latest crisis, saying its failure to adequately resolve the root causes had prolonged the conflict.
“Are we not the same citizens of South Sudan who elected the president to power? We need him to identify who are those behind killing us in December, without that there will be no peace restoration back in the country,” Lieth said.
Lieth was among a group of hundreds of men when random gunfire broke out inside a police station in the Gudele area.
He sustained gunshot wounds to the right hand and leg, and considers himself lucky to have survived the attack.
He managed to flee to Kampala last December and was granted asylum in Sweden in September.
(ST)