China urges renewed peace effort in South Sudan after massacre
Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:18am GMT
BEIJING, April 23 (Reuters) - China on Wednesday urged renewed peace efforts
in South Sudan after the United Nations said rebels slaughtered hundreds of
civilians when they seized the South Sudan oil hub of Bentiu.
"We strongly condemn this and urge all sides in South Sudan, including the
opposition and the authorities, to keep pushing political dialogue to
resolve the relevant issues and achieve reconciliation, peace and
development at the earliest date," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told
a daily briefing.
China has played an unusually active diplomatic role in South Sudan and is
the biggest investor in its oil industry.
Bentiu is capital of South Sudan's oil-producing Unity state. Oil firms in
South Sudan, a country roughly the size of France, include China National
Petroleum Corp, India's ONGC Videsh and Malaysia's Petronas.
"China has energy interests in South Sudan, so we hope even more that this
country can maintain peace and stability," Qin added.
"We also ask that the South Sudanese authorities provide protection to
China's reasonable rights in South Sudan and the safety of Chinese
nationals," he said.
China's special envoy to Africa, Zhong Jianhua, told Reuters in February
that China's efforts to help resolve the conflict in South Sudan marked a
"new chapter" in its foreign policy that would seek to engage more in
Africa's security.
The White House on Tuesday called the massacre an abomination and urged an
end to the cycle of violence there.
The United Nations said rebels hunted down men, women and children who had
sought refuge in a hospital, mosque and Catholic church.
Rebel troops overran Bentiu last week. Rebel spokesman Lul Ruai Koang denied
responsibility for the slaughter, blaming government forces for the
killings.
More than 1 million people have fled from their homes since December when
fighting erupted in the world's youngest country between troops backing
President Salva Kiir and soldiers loyal to his sacked vice president, Riek
Machar. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)
U.N. should have done more to prevent South Sudan massacre: Uganda
Wed Apr 23, 2014 3:07pm GMT
By Elias Biryabarema
KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda's army, backing its neighbour South Sudan against
a four-month-old rebellion, said on Wednesday U.N. peacekeepers should have
done more to stop insurgents slaughtering hundreds of civilians there last
week.
Uganda sent troops into South Sudan shortly after fighting broke out between
soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy Riek Machar in
mid-December.
In the latest major violence in the increasingly ethnic conflict, rebels
hunted down men, women and children taking refuge in a mosque, church and
hospital in oil town Bentiu where the U.N. has a base, according to a report
from the global body. [ID:nL2N0ND0MP]
The rebels denied carrying out the attack, which has drawn international
outrage. The White House said it was horrified. [ID:nL2N0NF05N]
About 22,000 people took refuge in the U.N. base in the town, the capital of
the oil producing Unity State, after the killings on Tuesday last week.
"It is disturbing that civilians are being killed in the backyard of a U.N.
mission," Ugandan military spokesman Paddy Ankunda told Reuters.
"There are thousands of U.N. soldiers in the country and you have hundreds
killed under their noses ... The United Nations ought to do more to stop
these crimes," he said.
A U.N. spokesman in the South Sudanese capital Juba did not immediately
respond to an emailed request for a comment.
The violence has spread across the country, often along ethnic faultlines,
pitting Kiir's Dinka people against Machar's Nuer group.
The rebels have repeatedly called for the withdrawal of Ugandan troops,
which their leader Riek Machar says is all that has prevented his
anti-government forces from seizing the capital. [ID:nL5N0L53AP]
Uganda's deployment has raised alarm among some regional neighbours and
Western capitals. The Ugandan government said it would pull its forces out
when a regional force was deployed to enforce a ceasefire - but that force
has not yet materialised.
"We cannot allow the killings of civilians. These sort of atrocities
demonstrate what would happen if we were not there," Ankunda said.
The U.N. mission in South Sudan, known as UNMISS, has approximately 8,500
military peacekeepers and police deployed in a country the size of France
with a population of some 11 million.
Rebel spokesman Lul Ruai Koang denied responsibility for the slaughter,
blaming government forces for the killings.
More than 1 million people have fled their homes since the fighting broke
out in the world's youngest country.
In Bentiu, bulldozers buried the dead in mass graves.
White House spokesman Jar Carney described the violence as an "abomination"
and said both Kiir and Machar must make clear that attacks on civilians are
unacceptable.