South Sudan: Dangerous rise in ethnic hate speech must be
reined in – Zeid
GENEVA (25 October 2016) - UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Tuesday warned that rising ethnic rhetoric,
hate speech and incitement to violence against certain ethnic groups in South
Sudan is highly dangerous and could result in mass atrocities if not reined in
by community and political leaders at the highest levels.
Over the past two weeks, letters with graphic warnings of
violence against people from the Equatoria region were left outside the gates
of humanitarian organisations in Aweil West, in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state
in the north-western part of the country. The letters, purportedly written by
individuals from the Dinka community, warned Equatorians to leave or be
“eliminated”, with threats of violence, mutilation and murder. Certain State
officials in the region have also reportedly joined in the hate speech. An
Equatorian staff member of a humanitarian organisation was attacked on 16
October in Aweil Town and 92 staff members of humanitarian organisations have
been evacuated from Aweil and 12 from Bor.
The threats emerged in reaction to the killing of an
unconfirmed number of Dinka civilians travelling to Juba by bus on 8 October,
and an attack against another three buses on 10 October. Rumours circulated on
social media about the number of civilians killed, calling for revenge attacks
against Equatorians.
“Hateful ethnic rhetoric in South Sudan – particularly if
it is exploited for political purposes – can have devastating consequences for
entire communities, quickly spiralling into a cycle of revenge attacks,” High
Commissioner Zeid said. “I urge President Salva Kiir and all political and
community leaders with influence to urgently and unambiguously condemn the
incitement to violence and to take urgent measures to defuse the tensions.”
“One important step would be to promptly and
transparently investigate the violence of 8 and 10 October, and to hold
perpetrators individually criminally responsible,” Zeid added. “Those who are
behind these terrible threats against Equatorians must also be held to
account.”
Zeid welcomed the press statement issued by the Acting
Governor of Aweil State, in which he called on all citizens to “join the
Government in condemnation of these alleged threats directed towards our
Equatorian brothers and sisters.” But the High Commissioner expressed concern
at a statement by President Kiir on 19 October, in which the President said he
would personally lead military operations against the armed groups responsible
for the killings in the region. The statement has widely been interpreted as
ethnically driven.
ENDS
The term Equatorian refers to people, from a number of
different tribes, in the South Sudanese states of Central Equatoria, Western
Equatoria and Eastern Equatoria.
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Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767/ rcolville@ohchr.org) or Ravina Shamdasani
(+41 22 917 9169 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org)
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