This Week in South Sudan – Week 21

Monday 23 May

• National Security officers, deployed to control queues at fuel stations, accused of extorting money from customers.
• The SPLA (IO) refuted allegations that their forces had attacked SPLA locations near Bentiu, Unity State. 

Tuesday 24 May

• Tens of thousands of people in the western regions of South Sudan have been forced to flee killings, gang rape, torture and other abuses by government soldiers, according to Human Rights Watch.
• The Enough Project, new policy brief: ““The Paper Tiger in South Sudan”

Wednesday 25 May

• According to the SPLM (IO) current sittings of the former national legislative assembly of South Sudan are illegal, following the formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU), which should have reconstituted a new parliament.
• South Sudanese women’s rights activists demand greater inclusion of women in the TGoNU.
• Professors and lecturers in South Sudan’s five public universities are on strike over unpaid salaries for the past three months.
• International Crisis Group report: “South Sudan’s South: Conflict in the Equatorias”
• Foreign Policy interview with Riek Machar: “Talking Trump and War Crimes With South Sudan’s Rebel Leader”

Thursday 26 May

• A new Amnesty International report, claims shipping containers are being used as deadly prisons in South Sudan.

Friday 27 May

• The Guardian: “’It’s like Florence Nightingale’s time’: South Sudan’s public services collapse”

Saturday 28 May

• At least 26 people including women and children were killed in inter-communal clashes between the Toposa and Didinga ethnic groups in Nauru area on 20 May.
• The decreasing value of South Sudanese Pound against the US Dollar has negatively affected trade between Sudan and South Sudan.
• Seven more of the kidnapped children from Gambella, has been returned to the government of Ethiopia.

Sunday 29 May

• The SPLA (IO) accused UPDF troops of allegedly crossing back into South Sudan and redeploying inside the country in violation of the August 2015 peace agreement.
• Radio Tamazuj: “Healthcare in Crisis: Understanding South Sudan’s collapsing health system”

Monday 30 May

• Luka Biong Deng called on the United States to put pressure on Sudan and South Sudan to recognise the result of the unilateral Abyei referendum.
• South Sudan’s Council of Ministers passed a resolution, approving establishment of cantonment areas for SPLA (IO) forces in Greater Equatoria and Greater Bahr el Ghazal.
• The New York Times: “Power Struggles Stall South Sudan’s Recovery From War”

Tuesday 31 May

• For the first time since formation of the TGoNU, President Salva Kiir, his first deputy, Riek Machar and second deputy, James Wani Igga, met to review the implementation of the August 2015 peace deal.