South Sudan is “on the brink of an all-out ethnic civil war which could destabilise the entire region”, the head of a team of UN human rights investigators told the UN Human Rights Council, describing a shattered country where children as young as two have been raped.
In her speech to the council, Yasmin Sooka, who heads the three-member UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, urged immediate deployment of a 4,000-strong regional protection force “to protect civilians all across South Sudan”.
She said that the international community can stop this “Rwanda-like” genocide in South Sudan with that deployment and should also set up a court to prosecute atrocities.
“South Sudan stands on the brink of an all-out ethnic civil war, which could destabilise the entire region,” Sooka said in the emergency session in Geneva on Wednesday, adding that the African Union and the government of South Sudan should immediately establish a hybrid court to prosecute human-right abuses in the country.
“Wherever we visited, people told us the country would dissolve into another Rwanda-like situation. While several of the early warning signs of mass atrocities are present, that does not mean it is inevitable. The international community must act now.”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein said the African Union must quickly set up such a court “with a strong focus on command responsibility for atrocities”.
Canada also called for the urgent and immediate deployment of a regional protection force, while the European Union urged all parties to allow and facilitate “the full, safe and unhindered provision of humanitarian assistance” to the country.
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