United Nations (UN) inquiry finds South Sudan’s political and military leaders are driving the country towards a full-scale war and mass atrocity crimes

 

South Sudan’s political and military leaders are systematically dismantling the 2018 Revitalized Peace agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, undermining governance and security safeguards and exposing civilians to grave risks of renewed armed conflict, mass atrocity crimes, and serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan warned today, presenting its latest investigative report to the Human Rights Council.

The Commission calls for the immediate cessation of hostilities, restoration and full implementation of the Revitalized Agreement, and compliance with South Sudan’s obligations under international law.

“Last March, the President declared South Sudan would not return to war. To the contrary, we have seen an alarming regression. Government forces have since carried out widespread and systematic attacks against civilians, including unlawful killings, indiscriminate, disproportionate aerial bombardment of civilian homes and medical facilities in violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution under international humanitarian law. The Commission also documented incidents of conflict-related sexual violence and the abduction and forcible recruitment of boys; conduct prohibited under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, its Optional Protocol and customary law. Taken together, these acts may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law,” said Yasmin Sooka, Chair of the Commission.

The new report draws on independent investigations conducted in South Sudan, focused on events and cases in 2025, while noting distressing new developments. The Commissioners presented the report today at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, which established the Commission ten years ago, in March 2016.

“The Commission found that armed forces under ruling party command are now most responsible for attacks against civilians, including patterns of targeting linked to ethnicity and perceived political affiliation,” added Sooka. “As attacks on Nuer civilians by government forces continue escalating, particularly in Jonglei, we see that the ethnic dimensions to renewed violence are inseparable from the politicized detentions and prosecutions of opposition leaders, which are also ethnically charged.”

In March 2025, the ruling SPLM-IG party detained opposition members across the country, including eight opposition leaders, among them the First Vice President, charging them with serious crimes in September 2025. These detentions and prosecutions raise serious concerns of arbitrary detention in violation of Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, denial of fair trial guarantees under Article 14, and unlawful executive interference with judicial independence. The ruling party says it plans to conduct the first national election in December 2026.

“Credible electoral processes are unrealistic in a context where civic space is repressed, conflict rages, more than three million people are internally displaced, and key opposition leaders are arbitrarily detained during a politicized trial,” added Sooka.

The report identifies airstrikes on levels unprecedented since pre-independence wars. Conducted by South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF), with documented support by Ugandan forces, most bombings hit areas the ruling party declared “hostile”. Civilian homes, hospitals and opposition sites are targeted in attacks. Many of the improvised bombs inflicted severe burns on mostly civilian victims, often fatal.

“Reflecting profound abdication of core duties and obligations, the systematic bombings and forced recruitments targeting civilians have been conducted by the very armed forces which are responsible for citizens’ protection,” said Commissioner Barney Afako. “These are gross violations of the State’s international human rights law obligations and implicate leaders in serious crimes.”

The Commission documented forced recruitment in Juba led by SSPDF, in which boys and young men were abducted and transported north to fight. The airstrikes and forced recruitments were widely known, and well planned, with high-level authorization. Political-military leaders responsible for related crimes enjoy impunity.

“Air and ground attacks on civilians by government forces, mostly targeting civilians in opposition-affiliated areas – predominantly Nuer communities – are part and parcel of the ruling party’s systematic dismantling of the peace agreement. When leaders treat negotiated peace commitments as expendable, they create conditions in which violence flourishes. South Sudan is at a dangerous crossroads,” added Afako.

Evidence gathered by the Commission indicates these violations are authorized, condoned, or tolerated by senior political and military officials. This engages individual criminal responsibility, including under the doctrine of command responsibility.

The 2018 Revitalized Agreement offers a comprehensive framework for peace, justice and development. The Commission has consistently emphasized the Revitalized Agreement as central to fulfilling South Sudan’s international human rights law obligations. Yet the new report documents its systematic dismantling throughout 2025, following years of deliberate obstructions.

“In our close examination of the detention and prosecution of opposition leaders, we identified serious and extensive violations of due process,” said Commissioner Carlos Castresana Fernández. “A fundamental issue is their detention without charge or lawyers for over five months. Another is the prejudicial statements by senior officials, and unexplained dismissals of chief justices and indeed justice ministers in the process – which indicates executive interference and may in part explain why judges never addressed the unlawful detentions. The unlawful deprivation of liberty warrants their immediate release; this should be done promptly, in accordance with applicable law.”

The report also reiterates findings in the Commission’s paper of September 2025, detailing grand corruption diverting revenues to elites, rendering government institutions unable to address basic needs and fulfill human rights. Since its publication, corruption mechanisms have further entrenched, with the corrupt and politically-connected Crawford Capital Ltd. intensifying its infiltration of government.

“Systemic impunity, economic predation, and deliberate subversion of peace agreements: over the ten years, our Commission has repeatedly identified these as central drivers of recurrent armed conflict and ongoing human rights violations,” said Sooka. “South Sudan’s neighbouring countries must urgently step up their engagement and press the ruling party to restore the Revitalized Agreement, starting with ending military offensives, recommitting to the cessation of hostilities and releasing opposition leaders from unlawful detention. Without urgent course correction, South Sudan risks state failure, further undermining regional security, and trampling the rights and dignity of South Sudanese.”

The Commission’s key recommendations in the report are:

• To the Government: immediately cease bombings, forced recruitments, and all violations of international law; withdraw politicized charges against SPLM/A-IO leaders; cease actions dismantling power-sharing arrangements and undermining judicial independence; ensure any electoral process complies with safeguards consistent with the Revitalized Agreement and international law.
• To all armed forces and non-State armed groups: cease attacks on civilians; guarantee humanitarian access; enforce accountability for rights violations.
• To the African Union and United Nations organizations and Member States: demand compliance with the Revitalized Agreement and establish a credible mechanism to restore the transition; immediately operationalize the Hybrid Court for South Sudan; fully fund humanitarian and civilian protection; and condition political support on respect for human rights obligations.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).