ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
A monitoring team sent to South Sudan by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has accused both sides of the country’s ongoing conflict of violating an earlier ceasefire deal and committing human rights breaches.
According to an IGAD report issued Wednesday, the government violated a ceasefire agreement signed last year “by launching multiple offensives against towns south of Bentiu in Unity State held by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-In Opposition (SPLM/A-IO).”
The monitoring team, the report said, “found substantial evidence that government forces indiscriminately killed civilians. Houses were burned, sometimes with the occupants inside.”
It added: “Entire villages were razed to the ground, such as Tayar in Panyijiar County, among others… and women were raped.”
The IGAD team also accused the SPLM/A-IO, along with allied Shilluk Forces, of violating the ceasefire deal and killing at least one person and injuring seven.
“The IGAD joint technical committee recommends that IGAD special envoys strongly condemn the SPLM/A-IO and affiliated Shilluk Forces for violating the [ceasefire agreement],” the report, which covers the period between April and July 7, said.
IGAD’s Monitoring and Verification Mechanism was established in February 2014.
Since war broke out in South Sudan in late 2013, tens of thousands have been killed and millions have been displaced.
