Navi Pillay, the UN human rights chief, has warned the leaders of South Sudan that they would investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity. The president of South Sudan, President Salva Kiir and his former VP, Reik Machar, may be under review for hate speech and revenge killings that often targeted victims based on their ethnicity. These killings have escalated in recent months, with the UN citing NGO's and religious leaders as the source for this information.
These killings have been happening since the young country has been in a civil war since December. Machar was dismissed from his VP role months earlier for leading a coup attempt. The UN Security Council called for an investigation in April after troops loyal to Machar killed hundreds of civilians in Bentiu. This came days after armed youths attacked a UN base in Bor which killed civilians as well. The UN Security Council agreed to send 13,000 troops to South Sudan in December but only about one-third have be provided. Pillay says this situation is more dangerous than many of the world leaders believe.
The Security Council also reported that there is a major famine going on in South Sudan which they stated could be the worst starvation Africa has experienced since the famine of Ethiopia in the 1980s. There are peace talks going on in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, but the talks have dragged on since January. It will be interesting to see if peace can be agreed upon and the UN can take action against these ruthless leaders.
For more info, here is the full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/01/world/africa/south-sudans.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesworld&_r=0
-Mike Prosia
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