South Sudan: South Sudan Fights to Implement Rule of Law

Juba — After decades of bitter fighting, South Sudan won its freedom from Sudan in 2011. Now, a fledgling government made up of former warlords faces the enormous task of taming lifelong rebels with rule of law. At the heart of this new battle are approximately 250 lawyers, who work tirelessly in one of the most dangerous jobs in the country.

In a dark and stifling office in Juba University, with no power and a small cabinet of law books representing the only library, sits Deng Awur, the dean of South Sudan's only law college.

He says that around 80 lawyers will graduate this year. Their skills are desperately needed in the impoverished and war-ravaged country, where the fledgling government is trying to promote a new concept: rule of law.

Around 250 lawyers have come back from abroad, and like the judiciary, police and ministry staff, their skills are about as jumbled as South Sudan's legal systems, says Awur.

The country is moving back to a common law system passed down by former British colonial rulers to Sudan, which then introduced Islamic law in the 1980s.

But more than 60 tribes are using various customary laws too, and Awur says those systems discriminate against half the population - an issue that he'd like his graduates to try and tackle.

"You have now a woman cannot inherit property of her husband or her father," Awur said. "There are real, real issues for women, and the law is clear, the law is not taking chances with anybody. So we hope through time people will be enlightened to accept that reality that human beings are the same, the law is for everyone, the constitution is for everyone, and there is no bias. We don't want any bias for or against anybody."

The university has stopped teaching Sharia law - previously one of its main subjects.

But Victor Lowilla, who runs legal aid at the South Sudan Law Society, says Sharia is still reflected in current laws and must be stripped out.

He wants a review of all South Sudan's laws, also to prevent chiefs from handing down harsh sentences and to abolish a range of bizarre or cruel practices that persist under customary law.