Open letter to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

To: Ms Navanethem Pillay

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Dear Madam Commissioner,

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement for Democratic Change [SPLM-DC] is the second largest political party in Southern Sudan. It is the only opposition political party that elected its sizable number of Members of Parliament to the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly [SSLA] during undemocratic elections of April 2010. This party and its supporters overwhelmingly voted for the independent of South Sudan, satisfied with the procedures of the referendum and recognized the results of the referendum.

Madam Commissioner,

This statement from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) highlights the gross Human Rights violations committed by the Sudan people's Liberations Movement/ Army (SPLM/A) in the upper Nile State of Southern Sudan. The authorities in Malakal carry out a routine night search from house to house and indiscriminately beat people and take them to unknown locations for questioning where they are not seen again. This is the SPLM democracy in its truest sense!

According to the eyewitnesses and reliable sources in the area, the clashes between militias and SPLA erupted when SPLA attacked the positions of the militias. The SPLA force is believed to be the first to launch an attack on Johnson Oliny's militia group in Upper Nile, George Athor's rebel base in Jonglei state and Baping Monytuel Wiejang's group in Unity state. Hundreds of civilians were killed and thousands mostly children, women and elderly were displaced by the current violence incited by the SPLM/A. The SPLM prevented the humanitarian agencies and the human rights groups from visiting the areas affected. The SPLM-DC condemns the killing of innocent civilians on cool blood and asks for protection of ordinary citizens by the Government of Southern Sudan. The SPLM led government must protect the ordinary citizens of Southern Sudan regardless of gender, geographical location and political affiliation. Contrary to the fact that the SPLA attacked the militias, the SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum alleged that the SPLM-DC chairman Dr. Lam Akol was arming the militia groups from the north to destabilize south Sudan. This allegation from the Secretary General of the SPLM is baseless and meaningless because the leader of the SPLM-DC Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin has no business of any kind with all militia groups that are operating within the parameter of the Southern Sudan. The SPLM-DC is purely a political party that advocates for democracy, human rights, and rule of law.

Madam Commissioner

As we write now, citizens of Upper Nile State are subjected to harsh tortures, constant arrests, physical harassments and unlawful detentions in solitary confinements by the SPLM/A. These innocent civilians of Upper Nile state not only are they imprisoned for the crimes they did not commit but are also denied the basic human rights such as the rights to free assembly and rights to free speech.

The SPLM-DC is urgently calling upon your esteem offices to carry out thorough investigation to unjustified arrests, disappearances of innocent people of Upper Nile state and add your voice for the their immediate release. The names of the prisoners attached are not all but a few whom we have managed to locate and hundreds more are languishing in unknown cells in different states of Southern Sudan.

Madam Commissioner,

The SPLM and the Southern Sudan Political Parties including rebel militias reached a resolution on South-South dialogue conference in October 2010 that united the people of southern Sudan for referendum and independency. However, after the referendum was completed, the SPLM repeatedly refused to respect the resolutions reached at the south-South Dialogue conference. Moreover, the SPLM manipulated the conduct of the review of the interim constitution of Southern Sudan by denying the full participation of Southern Sudan Political Parties from the interim constitution. The SPLM rejected the formation of the Government of national unity comprises of all political forces in Southern Sudan, brushed off the idea of transitional period as stipulated in Comprehensive Peace Agreement CPA, and downplayed the reconciliation process between the SPLM and opposition parties, militia groups, and the civil society organizations in the Southern Sudan although the spirit of the reconciling was reaffirmed during the South-South Dialogue by all parties concerned.

Madam Commissioner,

For the new Republic of South Sudan to be more stable and governable, the way forward is to have an inclusive well-structured transitional government. This broad based government must equally share the key ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance Interior, Energy, Defence, and Legal Affairs and Constitution with the Political Parties. And democratic election to elect a President that does not condone corruption, tribalism, nepotism, and cronyism shall be carried out by all voices of Southern Sudan. The SPLM-DC only believes in a leadership that respects the human rights.

We hope that your office reverses the present situation in Southern Sudan and takes the necessary action. Thank you for the time you have taken to read and understand our grievances and concerns.

Cc:

1. Maj. Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit

1^st Vice President of the Government of Sudan [GoS], President of the Government of Southern Sudan [GoSS], Chairman of SPLM and C-in-C-of SPLA

Juba, Sudan

2. Dr. Riek Machar Teny

Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan and Deputy Chairman of SPLM

Juba, Sudan

3. Maj. Gen. James Hoth Mai

SPLA General Chief of Staff

Juba, Sudan

4. Gov. Simon Kun Puoc

Governor of Upper Nile State

Malakal, Sudan

5. H.E Ban Ki-Moon

United Nations Secretary General

New York, USA

6. David Gressly

UN Regional Coordinator for Southern Sudan

Juba, Sudan

7. Omar El Bashir

The President of the republic of Sudan

8. Bingu wa Mutharika

President of the Republic of Malawi and chairman of African Union

Lilongwe, Malawi

9. Meles Zenawi

Ethiopian Prime Minister and Chairman of Intergovernmental Authority on development (IGAD)

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

10. David Cameron

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

London, UK

11. Angela MerkeL

Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany

Berlin, Germany

12. Stephen Harper

Canadian Prime minister

Ottawa, Canada

13. Jens Stoltenberg

Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway