Rights body urges UN takeover of war-torn S. Sudan

January 29, 2018 (KAMPALA) – A South Sudanese human rights body has urged the United Nations to place the war-torn nation under its protectorate status if the peace revitalization fails to achieve peace.

Tito Anthony, the Center for Peace and Justice (CPJ) coordinator, said the coalition government should avoid the repeat the renewed that broke out in July 2016, which led to the death of hundreds of people and displacement of thousands.

He insisted the world body should take over the war-torn East African nation during the transitional period and appoint a government that it can technically supervise as well as support.

“UN should immediately form a government to replace the current regime in Juba as the incumbent president and all armed opposition principals wait for general elections to contest,” Tito said in a statement.

He added, “All forces (police, national security services, army and the other organized forces) for both government and oppositions group should be canton, assemble, train, amalgamated and redeploy after 18 months or 3 months before general election”.

Under the UN trusteeship arrangement, Tito further stressed, the warring parties involved in the South Sudanese conflict return to the negotiating table on governance issues while the position of the president becomes ceremonial.

However, although South Sudan is a member of the world body and has signed cooperation agreements with the UN, working relations between the two entities have been frequently characterised with mistrust and serious of counter accusations.

Since the outbreak of the South Sudanese civil war in December 2013, thousands of civilians have been killed and more than two million internally displaced.

(ST)