CHRONICLE OF ATTROCITIES IN SOUTH SUDAN-PART 1 OPEN LETTER TO UN REPRESENTATIVE IN SOUTH SUDAN AND THE IGAD BY SIMON TANG JIATH In the Geneva Convention concerning the laws of hostilities or the international humanitarian law, the massacre of civilians in the midst of the armed conflict has a long and dark history. If we consider what happened in the midst of December as a military coup, the laws of war must be followed and we would have no civilian killed in a cold blood. For those who consider that there was a military coup, according to government ways, I want to assure them that the killing of innocent unarmed civilians in a cold blood is war crime and punishable by the international law. Imagine killing of more than 1000 civilian in less than two weeks. There’s source within the two UN compound in juba which says that they list the names of the dead from every family and the number of dead is exceeding seven thousand that’s in Juba alone. Examples or precedents related to this are:- - The massacre of the Kalingas by the Ashoka in India. - The massacre of 900,000 thousand Hindus by the Muslim troops of Timuor. -The crusader massacre of Jews and Muslims in the siege of Jerusalem (1099) Today the 25th of January 2014 marks forty days since the beginning of the political crisis of the SPLM party, and up to now in malakal the bodies of the dead who are all civilians remain in the town unburied after the rebel militant deserted the town, they were killed simply because they are from the Nuer ethnic group. To proof this fact no one who is in the UNMISS compound there will accept to go back home because they know they will not be safe enough despite propaganda being preached everyday for this innocent civilians to return to their homes. The brutal soldiers who are from the government side and supposed to protect them cannot be the merciful to their them. In unity state the Al jazeera correspondent Journalist was reporting before one day before its capture by government forces that all the civilians left the town, and from reliable sources the rebels also evacuated the town, so when government forces enter bentiu, there was no confrontation, then they started burning the civilian homes, that’s a bad sign of hatred against the innocent civilian. Those who remain were all killed in the hand of the (JEM and the SPLA forces). What had happened in the youngest republic in the world (South Sudan) is taking us back to 1800 in which combatants and none combatants were killed and properties were destroyed or looted, e.g. Juba, Bentiu, Jonglei and Malakal. It’s advisable for human right activists in south Sudan and the region to come to the ground and see the destroyed homes by government military tanks and the homes which were abandoned by owners escaping for their lives and the way the homes were looted, nothing left to them. The majority of the dead were all civilians killed because they belong to Nuer tribe. This is a bad example which was not witnessed even in the time of struggle before the independent. There were a lot of human right violations and one example is forcing four men from the unarmed civilians from the Nuer to eat the flesh of a human being, one from the victims refused to eat and said it’s better for him to die, further saying she would rather die. She was then he was shot to death. The other three ate and they are the survivors and eye witnesses of the inhumanity, they can testify that by their own. There are more facts in connection to violation of the laws of war in the time of hostilities & I’m sure that the international community is aware of that. The matter that there was a military coup or not doesn’t need an argument in the ICC in case of transferring the matter there because it’s the jurisdiction of the municipal law of South Sudan, and the courts of South Sudan will not be competent to try the case because nobody will assume that it will act independently for that particular matter. But the most important thing is that the local none-governmental organizations and the international ones must investigate the facts from the ground and have full reports about the war crimes committed and an expert committee from forensic scientists and lawyers can be formed to investigate the matter and prepare the accurate evidence for ICC if there’s a case to be answered. The calling for peace by UN representative , IGAD , and the international community is a positive humane call , the government will not be able to protect the citizens as it fails before this crisis and they become target by government forces during these crisis up to now. So what’s the guarantee for the security of the innocent civilians? Condemning the barbaric killings of the innocent civilians in Juba,Bentiu,Jonglei and upper Nile state is very important and the confession from the government admitting the wrong killings of the innocent civilians would be a first step toward healing the wounds of the relatives of the victims who have nothing to do or benefit from the SPLM party crisis, because no one on earth that you kill his relatives and you try to mislead him that somebody else is the one and expect him to trust the same authority who took the lives of many people who are witnesses and survivors of the conflict. In accordance with international humanitarian norms,the government have right to protecting the victims of armed conflict, the wounded, the sick, the shipwrecked .As we are in the in the twenty first century and with the government failure to events starting on 15th December,2013, the SPLA soldiers in Juba cannot be considered as a national army because if they are national army those chaos could never happen and they won’t turn their guns in the name of president to innocent Nuer(civilians) whom they supposed to protect. One example is that on the 16th of December about seven civilians were carrying their wounded brother to Lou Hospital in Gudele, the special force which were instructed to kill the innocent civilians(NUER) from the east to the west stopped the civilians the vehicle carrying their sick and they were shoot and killed in cold blood. Another group of soldiers who were angered by action of their fellow soldiers opened fire on them and a fight ensue. The other day the same good soldiers were changed from the check point of Gudele Near Lou Hospital and no accountability was ever taken. This is group of soldiers that the government has known and there could be no excuse why they were not prosecuted. A good example of following the laws of war in the Islamic system is that , non-combatants who did not take part in the fight, such as women , children , monks and hermits the aged , blind , the insane and men who have not participated in the war (Civilian Men) cannot be targeted , an example of that is the killing of Pastor Simon Nyang Lam who refused to run to UNMISS compound , because he’s a man of God and preach about love and peace. He was shot to death while at his home in Kor William terrible crime. There are four such killings targeted to religious leaders in Juba especially the NUER. Just a day ago from the writing of this article another reverend who has been ordained Moderator for Presbyterian Church of South Sudan was killed while returning from prayers for the sick in Malakal hospital, also in cold blood. There are number of these incidents directed to all Nuer across the country. These pastors were staying behind considering themselves as neutral and serve God, but this is to their unknowing that as long they are Nuer, they are not safe and their security cannot be guaranteed. As a result, most of these religious men and women have now sought protection from UNMISS compounds across the country or flee to neighboring countries. Message of Peace: As a human being I condemned the barbaric killings of those innocent citizens and urge the international community to condemn it. It’s also advisable to supervise the cease fire between the warring parties as they reached to it, and put strong sanctions to whoever violate it from the two warring parties. - South Sudanese & the east African community, let’s benefit from the battle of sulferino which led to more systematic efforts to prevent the suffering of war victims and let to existence of the laws of hostilities. Many thanks to Henery Donant Because he wrote a book which he titled (Memory of solferino) in which he described the horrors, and his reports were so shocking, that they led to the founding of the international committee of the red cross in 1863. It’s advisable that the RSS government, the UN , and related non-governmental organization , to collect the true report from the eye witnesses & supervisors so they can be used to teach the young nation. - The killing of the innocent unarmed civilian in unity state, jonglei , and malakal is also strongly condemned , that’s the beginning of entrance into peace talks , but if things are going the way it’s now South Sudan will not witness any peace. - All South Sudanese youth in South Sudan and in diaspora are obliged to preach peace and stop preaching hatred and tribalism, because the future of this nation is the youth of this young state. - Let’s all preach about peace as well as advocating for accountability against the starter of the war which killed innocent civilians who have nothing to deal with the SPLM internal problems. - After we achieve peace the army needs to be transformed into a national army which will protect the interest of the nation and its sovereignty and that will not be easy because it needs a special agreement to be in the administration of a regional and international body. Lastly the true facts of the chaos happened on the 15th of December 2013 is not a preaching of hatred and tribalism, those true facts are not to be hidden, because they can be good lessons for the people of the Republic of South Sudan. Simon Tang Jiath Human right Lawyer CHRONICLE OF ATTROCITIES IN SOUTH SUDAN-PART 1 OPEN LETTER TO UN REPRESENTATIVE IN SOUTH SUDAN AND THE IGAD BY SIMON TANG JIATH In the Geneva Convention concerning the laws of hostilities or the international humanitarian law, the massacre of civilians in the midst of the armed conflict has a long and dark history. If we consider what happened in the midst of December as a military coup, the laws of war must be followed and we would have no civilian killed in a cold blood. For those who consider that there was a military coup, according to government ways, I want to assure them that the killing of innocent unarmed civilians in a cold blood is war crime and punishable by the international law. Imagine killing of more than 1000 civilian in less than two weeks. There’s source within the two UN compound in juba which says that they list the names of the dead from every family and the number of dead is exceeding seven thousand that’s in Juba alone. Examples or precedents related to this are:- - The massacre of the Kalingas by the Ashoka in India. - The massacre of 900,000 thousand Hindus by the Muslim troops of Timuor. -The crusader massacre of Jews and Muslims in the siege of Jerusalem (1099) Today the 25th of January 2014 marks forty days since the beginning of the political crisis of the SPLM party, and up to now in malakal the bodies of the dead who are all civilians remain in the town unburied after the rebel militant deserted the town, they were killed simply because they are from the Nuer ethnic group. To proof this fact no one who is in the UNMISS compound there will accept to go back home because they know they will not be safe enough despite propaganda being preached everyday for this innocent civilians to return to their homes. The brutal soldiers who are from the government side and supposed to protect them cannot be the merciful to their them. In unity state the Al jazeera correspondent Journalist was reporting before one day before its capture by government forces that all the civilians left the town, and from reliable sources the rebels also evacuated the town, so when government forces enter bentiu, there was no confrontation, then they started burning the civilian homes, that’s a bad sign of hatred against the innocent civilian. Those who remain were all killed in the hand of the (JEM and the SPLA forces). What had happened in the youngest republic in the world (South Sudan) is taking us back to 1800 in which combatants and none combatants were killed and properties were destroyed or looted, e.g. Juba, Bentiu, Jonglei and Malakal. It’s advisable for human right activists in south Sudan and the region to come to the ground and see the destroyed homes by government military tanks and the homes which were abandoned by owners escaping for their lives and the way the homes were looted, nothing left to them. The majority of the dead were all civilians killed because they belong to Nuer tribe. This is a bad example which was not witnessed even in the time of struggle before the independent. There were a lot of human right violations and one example is forcing four men from the unarmed civilians from the Nuer to eat the flesh of a human being, one from the victims refused to eat and said it’s better for him to die, further saying she would rather die. She was then he was shot to death. The other three ate and they are the survivors and eye witnesses of the inhumanity, they can testify that by their own. There are more facts in connection to violation of the laws of war in the time of hostilities & I’m sure that the international community is aware of that. The matter that there was a military coup or not doesn’t need an argument in the ICC in case of transferring the matter there because it’s the jurisdiction of the municipal law of South Sudan, and the courts of South Sudan will not be competent to try the case because nobody will assume that it will act independently for that particular matter. But the most important thing is that the local none-governmental organizations and the international ones must investigate the facts from the ground and have full reports about the war crimes committed and an expert committee from forensic scientists and lawyers can be formed to investigate the matter and prepare the accurate evidence for ICC if there’s a case to be answered. The calling for peace by UN representative , IGAD , and the international community is a positive humane call , the government will not be able to protect the citizens as it fails before this crisis and they become target by government forces during these crisis up to now. So what’s the guarantee for the security of the innocent civilians? Condemning the barbaric killings of the innocent civilians in Juba,Bentiu,Jonglei and upper Nile state is very important and the confession from the government admitting the wrong killings of the innocent civilians would be a first step toward healing the wounds of the relatives of the victims who have nothing to do or benefit from the SPLM party crisis, because no one on earth that you kill his relatives and you try to mislead him that somebody else is the one and expect him to trust the same authority who took the lives of many people who are witnesses and survivors of the conflict. In accordance with international humanitarian norms,the government have right to protecting the victims of armed conflict, the wounded, the sick, the shipwrecked .As we are in the in the twenty first century and with the government failure to events starting on 15th December,2013, the SPLA soldiers in Juba cannot be considered as a national army because if they are national army those chaos could never happen and they won’t turn their guns in the name of president to innocent Nuer(civilians) whom they supposed to protect. One example is that on the 16th of December about seven civilians were carrying their wounded brother to Lou Hospital in Gudele, the special force which were instructed to kill the innocent civilians(NUER) from the east to the west stopped the civilians the vehicle carrying their sick and they were shoot and killed in cold blood. Another group of soldiers who were angered by action of their fellow soldiers opened fire on them and a fight ensue. The other day the same good soldiers were changed from the check point of Gudele Near Lou Hospital and no accountability was ever taken. This is group of soldiers that the government has known and there could be no excuse why they were not prosecuted. A good example of following the laws of war in the Islamic system is that , non-combatants who did not take part in the fight, such as women , children , monks and hermits the aged , blind , the insane and men who have not participated in the war (Civilian Men) cannot be targeted , an example of that is the killing of Pastor Simon Nyang Lam who refused to run to UNMISS compound , because he’s a man of God and preach about love and peace. He was shot to death while at his home in Kor William terrible crime. There are four such killings targeted to religious leaders in Juba especially the NUER. Just a day ago from the writing of this article another reverend who has been ordained Moderator for Presbyterian Church of South Sudan was killed while returning from prayers for the sick in Malakal hospital, also in cold blood. There are number of these incidents directed to all Nuer across the country. These pastors were staying behind considering themselves as neutral and serve God, but this is to their unknowing that as long they are Nuer, they are not safe and their security cannot be guaranteed. As a result, most of these religious men and women have now sought protection from UNMISS compounds across the country or flee to neighboring countries. Message of Peace: As a human being I condemned the barbaric killings of those innocent citizens and urge the international community to condemn it. It’s also advisable to supervise the cease fire between the warring parties as they reached to it, and put strong sanctions to whoever violate it from the two warring parties. - South Sudanese & the east African community, let’s benefit from the battle of sulferino which led to more systematic efforts to prevent the suffering of war victims and let to existence of the laws of hostilities. Many thanks to Henery Donant Because he wrote a book which he titled (Memory of solferino) in which he described the horrors, and his reports were so shocking, that they led to the founding of the international committee of the red cross in 1863. It’s advisable that the RSS government, the UN , and related non-governmental organization , to collect the true report from the eye witnesses & supervisors so they can be used to teach the young nation. - The killing of the innocent unarmed civilian in unity state, jonglei , and malakal is also strongly condemned , that’s the beginning of entrance into peace talks , but if things are going the way it’s now South Sudan will not witness any peace. - All South Sudanese youth in South Sudan and in diaspora are obliged to preach peace and stop preaching hatred and tribalism, because the future of this nation is the youth of this young state. - Let’s all preach about peace as well as advocating for accountability against the starter of the war which killed innocent civilians who have nothing to deal with the SPLM internal problems. - After we achieve peace the army needs to be transformed into a national army which will protect the interest of the nation and its sovereignty and that will not be easy because it needs a special agreement to be in the administration of a regional and international body. Lastly the true facts of the chaos happened on the 15th of December 2013 is not a preaching of hatred and tribalism, those true facts are not to be hidden, because they can be good lessons for the people of the Republic of South Sudan. Simon Tang Jiath Human right Lawyer
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 20:14:41 +0000
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