China must stop its arms sales to war-torn South Sudan
Jehanne Henry says if China is serious in its call for peace in South Sudan, where a brutal civil war is raging, it must stop the supply of weapons to government forces there
A conflict that has been raging in South Sudan since December has been characterised by extraordinary acts of cruelty against civilians, war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. China may well be enabling these crimes, whether it intends to or not.
Chinese officials have publicly stated their commitment to peace and stability in South Sudan and the region, and have supported the peace talks under way in Addis Ababa.
But the sale of US$38 million worth of missiles, grenade launchers, machine guns and ammunition to the government of South Sudan, reported last month, says otherwise.
The likely use of those weapons by parties to the conflict in South Sudan would contribute to the grave human rights abuses that have characterised the conflict.
The conflict began in the capital, Juba, in December, triggered by a power struggle between President Salva Kiir, who is ethnic Dinka, and former vice-president Riek Machar, from the Nuer ethnicity. The fighting quickly took on an ethnic dimension. Government forces carried out widespread killings, including a gruesome massacre, and detained hundreds of Nuer men in Juba.
These atrocities triggered reprisal killings of ethnic Dinka in the town of Bor and other parts of the country. In the following weeks and months, conflict spread, and with it, horrible abuses of civilians by both sides in Bor, and the towns of Bentiu and Malakal, all of which have changed hands many times.