http://www.newkerala.com/news/2016/fullnews-109128.html
Ban names retired Dutch general to lead probe into South Sudan violence
23 hours ago
24-08-2016
New York, Aug 24 : United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has
appointed Major General (retired) Patrick Cammaert of the Netherlands
to lead an independent special investigation into the violence in
South Sudan's capital, Juba, in July 2016, and the response of the UN
mission in the country (UNMISS).
According to a statement issued by Bans office, the investigation will
review reports of incidents of attacks on civilians and cases of
sexual violence that occurred within or in the vicinity of the UN
House Protection of Civilians (PoC) sites in the South Sudanese
capital, Juba.
[The investigation] will also determine the actions of UNMISS and
whether the Mission responded appropriately to prevent these incidents
and protect civilians within its resources and capabilities at the
time, noted the statement.
In addition, the investigation will review the circumstances
surrounding the attack on the Terrain Hotel and assess the Missions
response, it added.
The statement noted that the special investigation team will also
undertake a field visit to the Juba to conduct interviews with the
relevant interlocutors. A final report of the probe will be presented
to the Secretary-General within one month, the findings of which will
be made public, it added.
Major General (retired) Cammaert had a distinguished military career
in both the Netherlands with the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps and
the UN, including as Force Commander in UN Mission in Ethiopia and
Eritrea (UNMEE), as Military Advisor to the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations, and as General Officer Commanding the Eastern Division in
the UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(MONUC).
Recently, he led a Headquarters-Board of Inquiry on the circumstances
of the clashes that occurred in the UNMISS PoC site in Malakal, South
Sudan, on 17-18 February 2016.
On 17 August, alarmed by preliminary findings on the 11 July attack on
a the Hotel Terrain in the nations capital, in which one person was
killed and several civilians were raped and beaten by men in uniform,
Ban decided to launch the independent investigation to examine this
and other incidents and evaluate the overall response by UNMISS.
The incidents occurred during a spate of recent clashes between rival
forces the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) loyal to President
Salva Kiir and the SPLA in Opposition backing First Vice-President
Riek Machar that broke out in and around Juba, on 7 July, close to the
fifth anniversary of the countrys independence.
UN compounds and UNMISS-managed civilian protection sites were
attacked during the fighting and, according to the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad Al Hussein, a preliminary UN
investigation into the violence and its aftermath revealed that
Government security forces carried out killings and rapes, and looted
and destroyed properties.
The young country has faced ongoing challenges since a political
face-off between the two leaders erupted into full blown conflict in
December 2013. The crisis has produced one of the worlds worst
displacement situations with immense suffering for civilians.
Despite the August 2015 peace agreement that formally ended the war,
conflict and instability have also spread to previously unaffected
areas in the Greater Equatoria and Greater Bahr-El-Ghazal regions of
South Sudan. This past month, deadly clashes in once-stable Wau
resulted in the deaths of more than 40 people, while up to 35,000 fled
their homes.
Received on Wed Aug 24 2016 - 21:31:57 EDT