Anti-genocide group says genocide warning system is “flashing red” in South Sudan

Washington, DC/Juba, November 21,2016 (SSNA) – The Enough Project’s Founding Director, John Prendergast, said recent warnings by the United Nations about a looming genocide in South Sudan are real and that “all of the classic elements [of genocide] are present for mass atrocities to unfold” in the war-torn South Sudan.

Prendergast’s statements which was published by the South Sudan News Agency resonate with what the United Nations Special Adviser on the prevention of genocide Adama Dieng said on November 11.

“Every genocide early warning system is flashing red in South Sudan today. All of the classic elements are present for mass atrocities to unfold, and when atrocities are targeted at specific communities based on their identity, that is genocide,” Prendergast said.

Prendergast added that “In the 21st century, we need to draw a line in the sand and say that genocidal action will not be allowed to occur without a significant consequence.”

Prendergast is also a co-founder of The Sentry, an investigative initiative which conducted a two-year covert investigation into South Sudan economy. The report, which was released in September exposes massive corruption and implicates South Sudanese political and military leaders and “links to a network of international facilitators, including bankers, arms dealers, and multinational oil and mining companies.”

The UN and humanitarian organizations have recently sound an alarm, saying the rise of ‘ethnically targeted killings’ is disturbing and demand the international community to act.

The Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today in Juba said that situation in South Sudan is increasingly deteriorating and that there have been spikes in internal displacement, particularly in Equatoria region.

The Enough Project is a Washington, DC-based atrocity prevention policy group.