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South Sudan to hang former South African colonel

by BBC
23 Feb 2018 at 11:04hrs | Views
A court in South Sudan has sentenced a former South African colonel to death by hanging for conspiring against President Salva Kiir's government.

William John Endley, who served as an adviser to South Sudanese rebel leader and former Vice-President Riek Machar, was arrested in August 2016.

His photo has been tweeted by a privately-owned South Sudanese radio station:


South Sudan has been plunged in conflict since 2013 after a power struggle broke out between Mr Kiir and Mr Machar, former allies who turned into bitter foes.

Children in South Sudan have been forced to watch their mothers being raped and killed, civilians have been tortured and mutilated, and villages have been destroyed on an industrial scale.

These are some of the horrific abuses that a team of UN human rights investigators has detailed in a report published about the conflict in South Sudan.

The investigators say evidence suggests that more than 40 senior officials, among them five colonels and three state governors, may bear individual responsibility for the most serious violations.

The report will be presented to the UN human Rights Council in Geneva, but its real purpose is to provide evidence for a proposed hybrid court to try alleged war criminals.

But the court has still to be set up: South Sudan's parliament has not yet approved it.


Source - BBC