A/HRC/40/CRP.1 villages over the course of a five-month period. As such, these crimes should be investigated and prosecuted as crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and sexual violence, and other inhumane acts under Article 3 of the Statue of the Hybrid Court for South Sudan. b) Intentionally Directing Attacks against the Civilian Population Based on the evidence collected and reviewed, the Commission finds reasonable grounds to believe that the SPLA intentionally directed attacks against the civilian population in the Wau Triangle. While in some cases the SPLA-IO forces were in the general area when the SPLA attacked and there was fighting between opposing forces in the Wau Triangle area, many of the villages clearly had no opposition forces present in them at the time of the attacks. Similarly, by the SPLA’s own account, resistance in Wadhalelo was minimal. 1408 Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population or against individual civilians is prohibited by Article 13(2) of Additional Protocol II and section 7 of the South Sudan Geneva Convention Act (2012). Directing attacks against the civilian population is a serious crime under Article 5(a) of the Draft Statute of the Hybrid Court for South Sudan. Even where attacks may have been legitimate military operations against an SPLAIO presence, the evidence provides reasonable grounds to believe that there was an utter failure to adhere to the fundamental international humanitarian law principle of distinction, such that the attacks amount to a violation of the customary international law prohibition of indiscriminate attacks.1409 5. Responsibility for Violations and Alleged Crimes a)Individual Responsibility The violations and crimes committed in the Wau Triangle and Wadhalelo from June 2018 onward were part of an organised operation by the SPLA to clear the area of opposition forces.1410 The SPLA acknowledged that it had launched an offensive on SPLA-IO positions in the Wau Triangle and Wadhalelo upon instruction to conduct disarmament in the area.1411 The Commission also heard that additional forces were brought in from Aweil. 1412 The Commission was informed further that the operations in the Wau area were the subject of coordination between the SPLA 5 Division and the State Security Committee in Wau, which meets weekly on Wednesdays and includes the SPLA, the NSS, the Governor Angelo Taban Biajo, and a number of State Ministers such as the Ministers of Local Government and Finance.1413 The Governor wields significant influence in relation to launching offensives through the State Security Committee. 1414 The offensive started shortly after the arrival of the new 5 Division Commander, a Major General, on 3 June 2018 who would have been the overall commander of the operation.1415 Between July and October 2018, the Commander of the SPLA 15 Infantry Brigade based in Mboro was an identified Brigadier General whose area of responsibility extended to Bisselia, Baggari and Wadhalelo areas.1416 With respect to the attack in Wadhalelo, there are reasonable grounds to believe that an identified Major was the SPLA 1408 Confidential Document, ERN D113942-D113947. See also Witness 915, ERN 101828-101835, para. 13; Witness 925, ERN 101886-101890, para. 10. 1409 ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law, Rule 11. 1410 Confidential Meeting, Wau, 20 October 2018. 1411 CTSAMM, Report 2018/24 – Military Movement and Offensive Military Operations in the Wau Area, 26 July 2018; Confidential Document, ERN D113942-D113947; Confidential Document, ERN D116022-D116118; Confidential Document, ERN D116253D116260. See also Witness 915, ERN 101828-101835, para. 13; Witness 913, ERN 101799-101803, para. 9; Witness 880, ERN 101567-101571, para. 7; Witness 882, ERN 101577-101581, para. 6. 1412 Witness 878, ERN 101587-101592, para. 16. 1413 Witness 878, ERN 101587-101592, paras. 16, 24; Confidential Document, ERN D115602-D115748; Confidential Meeting, Wau, 3 December 2018. 1414 Confidential Meeting, Wau, 3 December 2018; Confidential Meeting, Wau, 20 October, 2018. 1415 Confidential Document, ERN D116022-D116118. 1416 Confidential Meeting, Wau, 2 December 2018; Confidential Document, D113975-D113981; Confidential Document, ERN D116119-D116154. 174