Maiwut State encircled in blue

An unknown number of women were raped in a series of clashes between armed civilians and government-allied forces, and the SPLA-IO in Maiwut in 2019, the ceasefire monitoring body has said.

In late July and early August 2019, fighting erupted between the government and SPLA-IO forces in Maiwut State where seven people were killed.

On 6 December, violent clashes also erupted between the SSPDF and armed civilians near Jikou over supplies being transported to SPLA-IO forces by a barge from Nasir.

The new chairperson of the CTSAMVM, Maj-Gen. Teshome Gemechu said the actions by the parties in Maiwut violated the cessation of hostilities and the ceasefire agreements.

“Our investigation into the fighting that took place in the late July and early August 2019 found that all involved failed to protect civilians and the woman had been raped in clear violation of the revitalized agreement,” Maj.-Gen Gemechu said during the 14th board meeting in Juba this morning.

Asked why it took CTSAMVM this long to probe the reported violations, he said: “The investigation was hampered by repeated denial of access by the SSPDF in violation of the R-ARCSS.”

Following the clashes, President Salva Kiir and the main opposition leader, Dr. Riek Machar, summoned their field commanders to Juba to explain why the clashes happened.

The revitalized peace agreement prohibits any form of hostility between forces during the interim period.

According to the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism, several investigations concluded that the parties failed to protect civilians in Maiwut.

CTSAMVM Board constitutes of members of the Parties to the R-ARCSS, as well as the international community, and non-political stakeholders such as women’s groups, youth, civil society and academia.