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Gov’t maintains its position on the AU findings

Author : | Published: October 1, 2015

The ministry of foreign affairs says the African Union should delay publishing of the findings of a commission of inquiry into the conflict.

The AU Peace and Security Council said over the weekend that the report should be published for public consumption.

The commission was formed in March 2014, but the Peace and Security Council decided to keep its findings confidential.

The African Union Peace and Security Council said the findings of the commission include extreme violence and sexual abuses by both parties against women.

It said murder, rape, torture, and other inhuman acts were committed against the civilian population.

The AU leaders said weak institutions, lack of accountability, rampant cases of impunity, extreme ethnicity in politics, and the military were some of the causes of the conflict.

However, the ministry says publishing the report could negatively affect the implementation of the peace agreement.

“Usually when you are implementing peace, you go for implementation process and then later on when you are finishing implementing the peace, then you come for accountability,” argued Amb Mawien Makol, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“You cannot put accountability ahead of the implementation, because what are you going to account for if the peace is not implemented?”

The Peace and Security Council also decided that the AU Commission establishes an independent hybrid judicial court to be known as the Hybrid Court for South Sudan.

It will try individuals responsible for committing atrocities and human rights against civilians since the conflict started in December 2013 until the end of the transitional period.

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