December 9th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s warring parties are continuing to recruit new fighters into their ranks and file despite a peace deal signed in September by the government and opposition groups, a top UN human rights investigator said on Friday.
The top UN human rights investigator in South Sudan, Barney Afako, said South Sudan’s warring parties are under international scrutiny raising red flag over alleged recruitment of fighters on both sides.
According to a new United Nations report, the human rights investigator revealed, South Sudan’s warring parties continue to recruit fighters despite the signing of the revitalized peace deal in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in September.
“There is a worrying trend, that there is some recruitment going on,” Afako said Friday.
The UN official further stated that the motive behind the recruitment of fighters is not yet clear, but there is a likelihood that the warring parties are battling over greater share of government demobilization programs or it might be that, they are preparing for an all-out war.
Last month, the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM) reported to the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC) that, there was an ongoing recruitment of fighters in Unity State, a report refuted by the South Sudan government saying they were only integrating forces loyal to FVP Taban Deng into the SSPDF.
South Sudan government and opposition groups signed in September the long-awaited revitalized peace deal as part of regional effort led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to end the ongoing civil war which engulfed the nation in December 2013.
