The African Union and the Botched Responsibility to Act on Behalf of South Sudan’s Victims of Conflict

The recent leak of a draft report attributed to the African Union Commission of Inquiry for South Sudan (AUCISS) has coincided with the termination of the peace talks between the government and rebel forces under the auspices of the East African regional block, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Together, these two events have thrown a wrench into what has already been a desperate citizen plea for peace in the country. The official AUCISS report was to be launched on January 29th, 2015, but the AU decided to postpone it, arguing that it would hamper progress in the peace process, which had at the time become more promising than it had been since it began 15 months earlier.