Members of the African Union Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan arrived in the country yesterday to continue with their work.

In March, the AU established the five-member team to investigate human rights violations and other abuses committed during the armed conflict that broke out in South Sudan in mid-December last year.

The chairman of the AU Commission of Inquiry is the former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo. He spoke at Juba International Airport upon his arrival.

He said last month during the AU summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, the Commission submitted an interim report to the heads of states, and asked for extra time to be given to the commission to continue with the investigation.

He said during this time, they will visit the 10 states of South Sudan for meeting with different groups of people.

“It is for us to be able to come up with a report that will be able to deal properly with the task and the mandate that has been given to our commission,” said Mr Obasanjo.

President Obasanjo said they will also visit the areas controlled by the SPLA-in Opposition forces to find facts on the ground.

“We will not shy away from any place because of clashes or anything because the mandate of our commission is for healing and reconciliation, accountability and institutional reform,” he added.

“If we do not go around, how we do we know where bleeding is so that we can advise how to stop the bleeding and to get the process of healing to start? So we will go everywhere.”

President Obasanjo said since the establishment of the commission, they had visited different parts of the country and met with different stakeholders the judiciary, women’s groups, international organizations and the United Nations.

They also visited the neighboring countries for meeting with the leaders of these countries.  Initially the commission was given three months.

They will spend 10 days in the country.