JUBA/GENEVA - The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan today expressed grave alarm at recent inflammatory rhetoric by senior military figures and reports of force mobilisation in Jonglei State, warning that such developments significantly heighten the risk of mass violence against civilians and further erode the peace agreement.
The Commission said that public statements by commanders and others exercising effective command and control when - combined with active troop mobilisation - represent a dangerous escalation at a moment when the political foundations of the peace process are already severely weakened.
Under international law, military and civilian leaders who incite crimes or who exercise effective control over forces may be held criminally responsible. Those who fail to prevent or punish crimes they knew about, or should have known were being committed, are equally criminally liable. No senior political or military leader in Juba can claim to be unaware of the blatant public incitements to commit serious crimes in Jonglei.
"Language that calls for the killing of those who are hors de combat (no longer participating in hostilities) and civilians, including the elderly - with assertions that 'no one should be spared' - is not only shocking, it is profoundly dangerous," said Yasmin Sooka, Chair of the Commission.
"In South Sudan's past, such rhetoric has preceded mass atrocities. When such language is issued or tolerated by those in positions of command, it signals permission to commit violence and removes any expectation of restraint," Sooka said. "At a time when civilians are already displaced, traumatised and exposed, this kind of incitement places entire communities at grave risk."
The Commission stressed that the current escalation is not an isolated incident, but part of a wider political breakdown driven by sustained violations of the peace agreement, and the erosion of command discipline in an already volatile and ethnically fractured environment.
"This is a moment of acute risk and political responsibility," said Commissioner Barney Afako. "Words uttered by commanders shape troop behaviour on the ground. When senior figures issue reckless or violent rhetoric, or fail to counter it decisively, they lower the threshold for abuses and send a signal that restraint no longer applies. The mobilisation of forces in this context, coupled with ethnicised messaging, risks triggering a spiral of retaliatory violence that could rapidly escalate beyond control."
"Unless there is immediate intervention at the highest level to rein in forces, de-escalate, and recommit to consensus politics, South Sudan risks sliding rapidly into another phase of widespread violence," Afako said. "Beyond national intervention, these developments now demand urgent high-level regional engagement to facilitate the restoration of South Sudan's transition. We are fast running out of time."
The Commission underscored that under international humanitarian and criminal law, military and civilian superiors bear responsibility not only for crimes they commit or order, but also for crimes they incite, or fail to prevent, repress, investigate or punish, when they knew or should have known that such crimes were being committed or were about to be committed.
"The peace agreement was designed precisely to prevent this kind of descent into violence," said Commissioner Carlos Castresana Fernández. "Public orders or statements that encourage attacks on civilians - including rhetoric that frames entire communities as legitimate targets - may give rise to individual criminal responsibility under international law."
"Command responsibility is attached to those who exercise effective control, regardless of whether orders are formal or conveyed through public statements, threats, or deliberate tolerance of incitement," Fernández said. "Those who incite, order or fail to prevent such acts can be held accountable."
The Commission called for all parties to immediately cease inflammatory rhetoric and force mobilisation to de-escalate tensions and further emphasized that President Salva Kiir, as Commander-in-Chief, bears a heightened duty to exercise effective control over forces operating in his name, to prevent armed actors from committing attacks on civilian populations in his name, and to ensure that ethnic mobilisation and calls for exterminatory violence are immediately and publicly repudiated.
Similarly, the Chief of Defence Forces of South Sudan, the Minister of Defence and others in positions of operational oversight of military actions in Jonglei and elsewhere also share in this duty.
"Failure to act decisively to halt incitement, rein in commanders, and restore command discipline, may engage responsibility at the highest levels of leadership.
The Commission called on regional and international partners to urgently re-engage to preserve the peace agreement and press South Sudan's leaders to return to the political path they committed to, warning that failure to do so risks an all-out ethnic conflict and another preventable tragedy.
"This crisis is not inevitable," Sooka said. "Leadership, restraint and accountability can still avert catastrophe. But deliberate incitement and the abuse of command authority will have consequences, and the window to act is closing fast."
