The Use Of Starvation As A Method Of Warfare In South Sudan

Women from Murle ethnic group wait in a line for a food distribution by United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in Gumuruk, South Sudan, on June 10, 2021, as their village where recently attacked by armed youth group. - An escalation in conflict has led to the displacement of thousands of individuals in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA, former Pibor County) in May 2021, deepening humanitarian needs in an area already facing catastrophic conditions across sectors and which had been classified as famine likely by the Global Famine Review of Integrated Food security phase (IPC) in November, 2020. (Photo credit: SIMON WOHLFAHRT/AFP via Getty Images)

On November 24, 2022, Global Rights Compliance, an international human rights law firm, published an investigative report on the situation in South Sudan urging the international community to act now against the use of starvation as a method in warfare in the country. As the report emphasizes, with millions of innocent civilians dying, being displaced and suffering, we are witnessing one of the world’s most unknown state-led mass crimes. Indeed, the situation in South Sudan continues to fall off the world’s radar.

The dire situation in South Sudan is nothing new. Nine years of the conflict have seen mass atrocities against civilians in the country, including mass killings, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and large-scale destruction.

In February 2022, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum issued a warning of immediate risk of mass atrocities in South Sudan. As the warning indicated, “South Sudanese civilians face a risk of mass atrocities from government forces, armed militia, and opposition groups as political instability at the national level increases.” The warning further added that the omni-present impunity has resulted in mass atrocities being normalized. The statement further warned about the risk of further violent crackdowns on organized gatherings in an effort to silence opposition in the leadup to the 2023 elections.

In July 2022, the U.S. Department of State submitted this annual report on the United States’ work to prevent and respond to atrocities, in accordance with the the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018, raising the dire situation in South Sudan. The annual report indicated that “the United States is increasingly concerned over ongoing commission of atrocities, including reports of conflict-related sexual violence employed as a weapon of war, in South Sudan as well as increased inter-communal violence in Abyei, an area contested between Sudan and South Sudan.” The annual report further added that “recent clashes between the South Sudan People’s Defense Force’s (SSPDF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement-In Opposition (SPLA/M-IO) in Upper Nile state and sub-national violence in Leer County and Unity State reflect an alarming rise in tensions. Recent violence in Abyei similarly highlights increased inter-communal tensions in that disputed region and carries with it attendant risks of atrocities.”

Over the recent months, the situation continued to deteriorate. More than 400,000 South Sudanese are said to have died as a result of the conflict, with hundreds of thousands injured and displaced.

The new report of Global Rights Compliance indicates that there is a “clear link between the use of civilian starvation as a method of warfare, targeted attacks on humanitarian aid workers and the mass forcible displacement of civilians.” It continues that government forces “appear to bear principal responsibility” for widespread attacks and atrocities. The report finds that all parties to the conflict have committed widespread human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, including “large-scale and systematic burning and destruction of homes and property, depriving civilians of objects indispensable to their survival, including through the destruction of food crops and markets, and impeding humanitarian access to the most vulnerable. These tactics have forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians, mainly to refugee camps in northern Uganda.”

The report warns that the risk to human life and famine has never been higher in South Sudan, with United Nations estimating that nearly 8 million people will not have enough to eat from April 2023. South Sudan is also the most dangerous place on earth for humanitarian aid workers to operate, forcing organizations to temporarily stop the supply of assistance to those in need.

Global Rights Compliance called upon the international community to “demand that starvation crimes in South Sudan are recognized as gross violations of international law, and that perpetrators of war crimes are brought to justice.” The situation in South Sudan requires urgent attention of the international community to assist those affected and ensure justice and accountability for all crimes perpetrated in the country.

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