UN expresses concern as death toll from raids in South Sudan reach 78

[News_Editor]

UN expresses concern as death toll from raids in South Sudan reach 78

2012-02-05 02:18:03 GMT+7 (ICT)

JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN/GENEVA (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations (UN) on Saturday expressed its concern after at least 78 people were killed during massive cattle raids in South Sudan. Several others remain missing, while dozens have been injured.

The attack happened on January 28 when an armed group of men from the neighboring state of Unity attacked several communities in Tong East County, which is located in remote Warrap State. The group, armed with machetes, stole more than 70,000 cattle.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), at least 78 people are believed to have been killed in the attack while nine others remain missing. Most of the victims were women and children. Another 72 people were wounded in the early morning attack.

OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville called on all relevant authorities to ensure that urgent measures are taken to help secure the economic and social rights of those affected by the attack. "This is extremely worrying because an exclusively pastoralist economy means that around 40,000 people have now been left without a livelihood," Colville said, stressing that those displaced by the attack, mostly members of the Luac Jang tribe, are now facing shortages of water, food, shelter and medicine.

The details of the incident are still unclear as the attack occurred in a remote area of Warrap. Colville, however, said the OHCHR and the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) will continue their investigations.

In a separate incident in Unity state's Mayendit county on Wednesday, a shooting took place during a mediation meeting that had been held in a bid to calm ongoing ethnic tensions. A member of the UNMISS was injured in the shooting and an unknown number of people were killed, according to UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky who spoke with reporters in New York.

Seven UNMISS staff members, along with a series of state officials, had been meeting with the Mayendit county commissioner to investigate recent inter-communal violence along the border between Warrap and Unity. During the meeting, a group of armed men arrived in four pick-up trucks and started shooting indiscriminately.

A UN staff member was wounded in the crossfire and is now in Juba, the national capital, to undergo medical treatment. UNMISS has urged the South Sudanese government to investigate the incident and to bring the perpetrators of the attack to account.

Despite the recent attacks in Warrap and Unity, the UN said they appear to be unrelated to recent incidents in Jonglei state, where tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced in the past two months due to deadly clashes between the Lou Nuer and Murle ethnic communities.

In August 2011, at least 600 people were killed and more than 750 others were injured when tribal clashes erupted in Jonglei. The clashes originated between the Murle and Lou Nuer communities following large-scale cattle raids by members of the two groups, leading to the theft of between 26,000 and 30,000 cattle.

South Sudan became the world's newest country when it broke away from Sudan on July 9, 2011, as a culmination of a six-year peace process which began in January 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).

More than two million people, most of them civilians who died due to starvation and drought, were killed during the 20-year civil war in Sudan. Although there were hopes that South Sudan secession would lead to peace, violence has continued both on a local level as well as with the Sudanese forces.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-02-05