A leading human rights watchdog has called for a halt in supply of conventional weapons to South Sudan following gross human rights violations in combats between the army and rebels in Mayom County of Unity State.
Amnesty International Thursday release a briefing titled “Overshadowed Conflict, Arms supplies fuel violations in Mayom County, Unity State.”The document says a flow of military weapons from China, Sudan and Ukraine has triggered indiscriminate attacks by both the South Sudan’s armed forces and armed opposition groups in clashes in Mayom County between 2010 and 2011.
It says that scores of people have been killed or injured, homes destroyed and many more displaced due to indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas by the SPLA and the South Sudan Liberation Army in Mayom County.
Amnesty International’s Africa Director Erwin van der Borght called on governments to immediately stop supplying South Sudan with conventional arms used to commit violations of international humanitarian and human rights law until adequate systems of training and accountability are in place.
The briefing accuses the army of using Ukrainian-supplied T-72 main battle tanks to shell villages indiscriminately.
It added that Sudanese ammunitions and mortars and Chinese guns and land mines were used by the rebels in Mayom County.
The Amnesty 36-page briefing examines the impact of irresponsible supplies and misuse of weapons, munitions and armaments resulting in civilian casualties and thousands of people being displaced.