This Week in South Sudan – Week 11 – Monitoring South Sudan

Conflicting reports of alleged clashes in Leer town, Unity State, and Yuai area, Jonglei State.

Former political detainee, Leonzio Angole Onek says 32 others are still imprisoned, despite a recent vow from President Salva Kiir to release them.
A UN report by the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan claims that the redrawing of state borders has depopulate certain areas of its Shilluk and Nuer inhabitants. The report purports that the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) has begun a campaign of “population engineering”. The report also criticised the delayed establishment of a hybrid court amidst increased violence and human rights violations.
Eight South Sudanese aid workers from Samaritan’s Purse, a US charity organisation, were released after being detained by armed men near Mayendit County, Unity State.

A cross-border attack, allegedly carried out by persons from the Murle group, have left 28 people dead in the Gog and Jor areas in the Gambella region, western Ethiopia. 43 children were also reported kidnapped by the attackers; the Ethiopian military has only rescued six of them.
Prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed across South Sudan as the SSP continues to weaken against the US dollar.
The Guardian: “’Last time I got food, armed men took everything’: famine in South Sudan”

Unknown gunmen attacked an aid convoy near Yirol, Lakes State, killing two people and wounding three, according to the International Organization for Migration.
In a series of decrees, President Salva Kiir made several government reshuffles. These include what is tantamount to a demotion of the Murle militia leader David Yau Yau from Deputy Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs to deputy Minister of Labour, Public Service and Human Resource Development.
New report by John Prendergast, The Enough Project: “How The World’s Newest Country Went Awry: South Sudan’s war, famine, and potential genocide”

The AFP and Reuters have seen a confidential UN report by a panel of experts. The report finds that the GoSS have continued spending oil revenue on procurement of weapons while the people face famine and severe food insecurity. The GoSS refuted these findings.
Several individuals and armed factions have pledged allegiance to the newly established National Salvation Front, led by Thomas Cirillo Swaka. They include the former SPLA (IO) General Faiz Ismail and the leaders of the SPLM-USA Secretariat.

The GoSS will form a Ministry of East African Affairs.
The Economist: “To fight hyperinflation, South Sudan decides to tax aid workers”

This Week in South Sudan – Week 11