A civil society organization, Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, CEPO is urging the government of South Sudan to ensure that South Sudanese soldiers deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as part of the East Africa Standby Force are not involved in act that will count as human rights abuse or violation.
Mr Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of CEPO says the government of South Sudan should assign a small civilian-led mechanism for tracking performance of troops in the DRC.
“On our side as civil society, we will be tracking the soldiers in the performance of their respective duties as peacekeepers in DRC through our regional civil society platform.” Said Yekani in a press statement.
He added that civil society groups would like to see compliance with values of human rights and non-exploitation of natural resources including abstaining from sexual exploitation of civil populations.
“Our national parliament should raised a motion for regular assessment of our soldiers’ performance as part of the East Africa Standby Force in the DRC.” Yekani added.
He further said, It is essential for the national parliament to regularly be updated on the performance of South Sudanese soldiers in the DRC mission.
Yekani said CEPO will advocate for establishment of East African civil society platform for tracking performance of the East Africa Standby Force deployed in the DRC.
South Sudan has deployed a battalion (750 troops) to the DRC mission. Kenya, Uganda and Burundi have also deployed troops in eastern DRC aiming at helping end civil war in that part of the country.
