Delivering an update to the forum in Geneva, Deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al- Nashif, highlighted “staggering levels of localised violence”.

She attributed this to community-based militias who were responsible for almost all killings, injuries, abductions and sexual violence between April and June this year.

According to the UN Mission in South Sudan, (UNMISS), the three-month period saw 585 people killed, 305 injured and thousands forcibly displaced throughout the country – particularly in Jonglei and the Greater Pibor Administrative Areas.

Despite the many allegations of serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law, progress in the fight against impunity had been minimal, Al-Nashif said, before “strongly” encouraging the government to work closely with local leaders to achieve peaceful conflict resolutions.

Also reporting to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, Yasmin Sooka, said that since last March, the human rights situation in the country had deteriorated considerably and that a human rights’ crisis of “epic” proportions was unfolding in a dramatic way.

She noted that there had been an increase in extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances and torture, as well as rape and conflict-related sexual violence.

The government’s intolerance to criticisms had also led to a brutal attack on fundamental freedoms and the suppression of dissent, using excessive force against civilians, she said.

According to Sooka, between June and August of this year, more than 100 civilians were killed in an ethnic conflict at Tambura, in Western Equatoria.

Between 80,000 and 120,000 people have also been reportedly displaced by the conflict, with thousands fleeing to neighbouring Bahr el Ghazal state and Ezo County.

The chairperson also warned that the humanitarian community in the country was increasingly coming under attack, resulting in the suspension of their activities and the relocation of aid workers.

The UN correspondent quoted her as saying that more than 4.3 million people have been displaced, with almost 80 per cent of the population believed to be living in extreme poverty, and more than 7.2 million people experiencing food insecurity.

Sooka also pointed out that the UN humanitarian appeal for South Sudan amounted to approximately $1.7 billion dollars, less than half of which had been committed by the international community.

South Sudan was ranked seventh among 8 countries in the world with the worst humanitarian crises, she said.

She also maintained that the country’s leaders had continued to divert “staggering amounts of money…from (the country’s) public coffers”, which had resulted in undermining human rights and endangering people’s security in the country.

According to investigations carried out by the Commission over the past two years, more than $73 million dollars had been siphoned off since 2018.

She also noted that the figure was only a fraction of the overall amount looted, as South Sudan’s ruling elites had diverted more than $4 billion dollars, since 2012 – the year after independence. (NAN)