War Crimes in South Sudan

To the Editor:

Re “A New Nation, Cracking Apart^[1]” (front page, March 5):

Two of us recently visited Juba to appeal to South Sudan’s highest leaders that they act to prevent genocide and bring to justice those responsible for the atrocities that your reporter describes.

Blanket impunity is fueling further atrocities, a point made by refugees streaming by the hundreds of thousands into Uganda and Ethiopia. We told leaders that they can avoid or minimize prosecution by acting to prevent crimes by soldiers and to punish those who commit atrocities.

The 2015 peace agreement obligates the warring parties to accept a criminal tribunal to be created by the African Union with South Sudanese and other African judges. The situation is dire. The African Union needs to set up the tribunal immediately, and South Sudan’s leaders must reverse the slide to genocide. The United States should press for such actions and build a stronger coalition to confront the humanitarian catastrophe.

STEPHEN RAPP, DAVID SCHEFFERCLINT WILLIAMSON, CHICAGO

The writers are former United States ambassadors at large for war crimes issues in Democratic and Republican administrations.

References

1. ^{^} A New Nation, Cracking Apart (www.nytimes.com)