UN Blames Political, Military Leaders for South Sudan Violence

The U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Mission in South Sudan have called on the government to hold those who have committed killings and abductions to account, but also to hold to account local chiefs, military and political leaders who fuelled intercommunal violence and supplied weapons to local militias. The joint report says that community-based violence saw more than 700 people killed between January and June 2020. "The risk that these community-based militias will reignite armed violence is too grave to ignore. It is of paramount importance that the government takes effective steps to ensure that members of the security forces are prevented from supplying weapons from government stocks to these militias," the UN has said