Families of the victims reiterated their demand for a hybrid court to be established over alleged war crimes perpetrated during the civil war in South Sudan, after the country's president, Salva Kiir and his former opponent, the vice-president, Riek Machar, co-authored a piece in the New York Times yesterday stating South Sudan "needs truth, not trials."

“We intend to create a national truth and reconciliation commission modelled on those of South Africa and Northern Ireland,” the leaders wrote adding, “disciplinary justice – even if delivered under international law – would destabilise efforts to unite our nation by keeping alive anger and hatred among the people of South Sudan."

See full opinion piece here .

The article came as the country faced increasing international pressure to establish a hybrid court, backed by the African Union, which was a central part of a peace accord signed by Mr Machar and Mr Kiir in August 2015.

Criticising the views of the leaders, Elise Keppler, the associate director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch, was quoted by Voice of America as saying:

“The article drafted by Riek Machar and Salve Kiir really represents a self-serving effort to escape accountability. These leaders themselves are implicated in horrific crimes committed in South Sudan. They themselves agreed, as part of the 2015 peace agreement to have justice advance, and they took to the pages of the New York Times to attempt to sidestep the justice issue, pushing instead for a proposal for a truth and reconciliation."

“To my eyes, this announcement by Machar is very significant and one does need to question how this piece [article] really came about because it is quite a kind of audacious, bracing proposal to say let’s forget the trials that we agreed to as part of the peace process; let’s just go with evading accountability,” she said.