South Sudan on Friday released four top leaders accused of rebellion and treason, dropping charges for attempting to overthrow the government in a move aimed at ending a four-month-old civil war.
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir said their release was the “price of peace,” adding: “Even if we hang them, they cannot compensate those who were killed.”
The court order said the men were released “to promote peace and reconciliation among our people,” while Kiir urged people to respect those released.
“This is the only way of getting out [of war],” he said in a speech. “Let’s all work together.”
A reporter at the court said the four men were greeted by cheering supporters who lifted them up on to their shoulders into the crowd.
“We were imprisoned without any reason,” said freed detainee Pagan Amum, the former secretary-general of the ruling party.
In a speech thanking his supporters, he vowed to work to end the vicious conflict.
“We have to return South Sudan to peace and stability,” Amum said, adding he would work with the government and rebels “to end this senseless war that is killing our people.”
Kiir has ordered the four to remain in the country, warning that they can be “recalled back if the criminal procedures are reviewed.”
The detention of the four had been a major sticking point in peace talks, and the gesture comes as the leaders on both sides of the conflict face the threat of UN sanctions amid worsening violence and atrocities.
Amid a wave of killings, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay is to visit the country tomorrow on a joint mission with Adama Dieng, the UN’s special envoy for the prevention of genocide.
Pillay is due to spend two days in the capital, Juba, where she is scheduled to meet with the president and senior government officials, plus human rights monitors.
She also aims to meet with opposition leaders, either in South Sudan or in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where officials have been trying to inject life into stalled peace efforts.
In addition, if security conditions allow, she is to travel to the sites of recent massacres and meet with people affected.
The conflict has already left thousands of people dead, over a million displaced and prompted UN warnings of the risk of famine.
The three other freed detainees are former South Sudanese national security minister Oyai Deng Ajak, former South Sudanese ambassador to the US Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, and former South Sudanese deputy defense minister Majak D’Agoot.
“We feel that our clients have been vindicated, they are innocent people,” defense lawyer Monyluak Alor said. “They were witch-hunted, but then justice has prevailed... peace and reconciliation are paramount now.”
The four leaders were arrested in Juba in December last year after fighting broke out between members of the presidential guard. The fighting rapidly escalated into all-out war between troops loyal to Kiir, and defectors and ethnic militia loyal to sacked South Sudanese vice president Riek Machar. Kiir accused Machar and his allies of attempting a coup and initially 11 of his loyalists were put on trial.
Machar denied the allegation, and in turn has branded Kiir a “genocidal leader” who started the war by carrying out a purge.
Charges remain against Machar, who fled the capital and is leading the rebellion, as well as other two key rebels, former governor of the oil-rich Unity state Taban Deng and former minister Alfred Ladu Gore.
However, charges were also dropped against seven leaders who were arrested shortly after fighting broke out and released in January into the care of neighboring Kenya.
The move comes amid worsening violence in South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, which only won independence from Khartoum in 2011.
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