[ad_1]
Amnesty International [advocacy website] Tuesday accused [report, PDF] The National Security Service of South Sudan and the Military Intelligence Directorate continued to arbitrarily detain and torture individuals accused of supporting opposition forces in the country.
A cessation of hostilities agreement was signed on December 21, 2017 by the Government of South Sudan and the opposition forces, which demanded the release of all political detainees. The government of South Sudan has also pledged to release political detainees in an agreement signed in June 2018.
However, Amnesty accuses southern Sudan of continuing to torture and detain political detainees without charge. Detainees are usually men who are thought to be politically or ethnically aligned with the opposition. The former detainees gave details of the physical and sexual abuse suffered during their detention. Four inmates died during their detention by the government between February 2017 and July 2017. Access to medical care is rare and usually only occurs after a considerable deterioration of health.
South Sudan is also accused of enforced disappearances. Several men were reportedly taken to detention centers or taken away by security agents and never heard from again. The government is also accused of working with the Kenyan authorities to forcibly evict people in South Sudan where the detainees then disappear.
Amnesty International has called on the Government of South Sudan to release or indict all remaining detainees and to provide medical and psychosocial rehabilitation to former detainees. They also called on the government to open criminal investigations into NSS practices and to prevent the NSS from making arrests, detentions, searches, seizure of property and the use of force.
In February, a UN report declared that a lasting peace [JURIST report] in South Sudan can only be achieved if both parties have freedom of expression. The Human Rights Division of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan [official website] released a report in May 2017 that revealed numerous human rights violations [JURIST report] in South Sudan. In July 2018, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] said that human rights violations in the country can be considered war crimes [JURIST report].
