UN Human Rights Report on South Sudan

 The UN Human Rights Council published on 29 February 2024 an unedited version of its "Report of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan." 

The report details a range of human rights violations, abuses, and related crimes, including systematic political repression and economic predation by political elites.  Women continue to endure pervasive discrimination, inequality, sexual violence, and sexual slavery.  Children suffer egregious violations, arising from the ongoing insurgency and resurgent subnational violence, fueled by local and national elites.

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces Enslave Ethnic Africans in Darfur

 The Washington Post published on 23 February 2024 an article titled "Sudanese Militiamen Carry Out Wave of Abductions, Seeking Slaves and Ransom" by Katharine Houreld and Hafiz Haroun.  

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is composed primarily of Arab militiamen, are abducting mostly African Masalit tribe members in Darfur as forced laborers or as persons to be ransomed.  

Local Violence Engulfs South Sudan

 UN News published on 19 February 2021 a summary of a new UN Human Rights Commission report on violence in South Sudan.  

The UN Human Rights Council-appointed investigators said the bloodshed faced by civilians in South Sudan is the worst recorded since the country's civil war began in December 2013.  Most of the violence is occurring at the local level.  The Commission members described the situation as shocking.  

Abduction of ONLF Representatives in Kenya

Ogaden Today asked me to comment on the abduction this week in Nairobi, Kenya, of two Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) representatives and the implications of this development for peace talks between Ethiopia and the ONLF.  Ogaden Today published my brief response on 2 February 2014.