South Sudan – A UN committee warns of mass atrocities in light of escalating incitement and failure of leadership

The independent commission – set up by the UN Human Rights Council – said that public statements by commanders and others exercising effective command and control, in conjunction with the mobilization of forces, represent a dangerous escalation at a time when the political foundations of the peace process are extremely weak.

Under international law, military and civilian commanders who incite crimes or exercise effective control over forces can be held criminally accountable.

Criminal liability also bears those who fail to prevent or punish crimes of which they knew or should have known. The committee said: “No high-ranking political or military leader in Juba can claim ignorance of the explicit public incitement to commit serious crimes in Jonglei.”

The committee stressed that the current escalation is not isolated, but rather part of a broader political collapse resulting from continued violations of the peace agreement and the erosion of leadership discipline in an already tense and ethnically divided environment.

Call for leaders and partners

The committee called on all parties to immediately stop inflammatory rhetoric and mobilize forces to calm tensions. It also stressed that President Salva Kiir, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, bears a double responsibility to exercise effective control over the forces operating in his name, prevent armed groups from launching attacks on civilians in his name, and ensure that ethnic incitement and calls for genocidal violence are categorically and publicly rejected.

She said that the Chief of Defense Staff of South Sudan, the Minister of Defence, and others who hold supervisory positions over military operations in Jonglei and elsewhere share this responsibility.

The committee called on regional and international partners to urgently re-engage to preserve the peace agreement and put pressure on South Sudan’s leaders to return to the political path to which they committed.

Failure to do so risks all-out ethnic conflict and another avoidable tragedy, she warned.