Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 23:29:37 +0200
South Sudan: Bentiu atrocity will not be the last unless pleas for help are
heard
Humanitarian workers make desperate call for international assistance as
numbers of wounded and displaced people soar
* James Copnall <http://www.theguardian.com/profile/james-copnall>
* <http://www.theguardian.com/> theguardian.com,
* Wednesday 23 April 2014 11.31 BST
*
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The massacre in Bentiu, <http://www.theguardian.com/world/south-sudan>
South Sudan, has shaken even hardened humanitarian workers. The UN's
development and humanitarian coordinator,
<http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/nov/14/s
outh-sudan-aid-global-support> Toby Lanzer, called it perhaps the
<https://www.radiodabanga.org/node/71455> most shocking circumstances he had
faced. Civilians were killed in the town's main hospital, in a Catholic
church and in the Kali-Ballee mosque. A week after the fighting, bodies
still litter the streets.
The rebels who retook Bentiu on 15 April are accused of killing hundreds of
people.
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/21/south-sudan-killings-bentiu-un
ited-nations> The UN says militants targeted their victims based on
ethnicity and nationality. The rebels, who are largely from the Nuer ethnic
group, allegedly killed non-Nuers, and Nuers who they believed did not
support them. They are also accused of killing many Sudanese, in particular
traders from Darfur.
<http://www.voanews.com/content/south-sudan-rebels-deny-killing-civilians-in
-bentiu/1898361.html%20-%20attack%20on%20UN%20camp%20in%20Bor%20-%20http:/ww
w.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article50690> The rebels' official line is that
they did not carry out the massacre. However, one source admitted that
civilians had indeed been killed by anti-government forces. He claimed that
many of the Sudanese were soldiers from the Justice and Equality Movement
(JEM), a rebel group from Darfur accused of supporting the South Sudanese
government. According to his version of events, JEM fighters removed their
uniforms and hid in the mosque, before being shot. A Sudanese human rights
group has rejected this claim, saying those killed were unarmed civilians.
The Bentiu massacre is not the first in this civil war. Government troops
killed Nuer and other supposed supporters of the rebel leader, Riek Machar,
in the initial days of the conflict; the rebels carried out mass killings in
Bor and Malakal; and armed civilians attacked a UN base last week, killing
at least 48 people.
<http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2014/apr/22/s
outh-sudan-african-union-inquiry-peace-precedent-africa> An African Union
inquiry into the abuses in South Sudan has been launched, but it has not
scared either side enough to halt further atrocities.
In the short term, humanitarian workers are struggling to deal with the
challenges in Bentiu. More than 200 wounded people are being treated, mainly
for gunshot wounds, and there are likely to be others who remain out of
reach of medical care.
There are about 23,000 people seeking shelter in the desperately overcrowded
UN base a short drive to the north of town. It was not designed to
accommodate displaced people, let alone so many of them. Water is in short
supply, with internally displaced people receiving only a litre of safe
drinking water a day.
There is one latrine for every 350 people – the international norm is one
for every 20 users. According to the head of the UN children's agency in
South Sudan, Jonathan Veitch: "Those who survived horrendous violence now
face the very real risk of fatal water-borne disease outbreak."
It is feared that thousands more people could arrive in the next few days.
In Bentiu, as in other war-affected parts of the country, development has
been abandoned in favour of humanitarian work.
The medium-term prognosis is even more worrying. The fighting has created
two major problems for a country that was already struggling to feed itself
before the war broke out. "Because of the insecurity, the supply to
different parts of the country, especially Upper Nile, Unity and Jonglei
[the main areas the rebels are fighting in] is almost impossible," warned
Raphael Gorgeu, head of mission for the medical charity Médicins Sans
Frontières in South Sudan. "The markets are empty. And secondly, parts of
population may not be able to plant crops' because of the fighting."
Every year, people in South Sudan struggle through the hunger gap – the
period when they wait for crops to grow. This year the food shortage will be
more acute and the gap a chasm. An estimated 7 million people – about 70% of
the population – are at risk of severe food insecurity. Malnutrition rates
in many areas have skyrocketed, prompting
<http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2014-04-22/south-sudan-warni
ng-respond-humanitarian-crisis-now-or-face-larger-catastrophe?utm_source=oxf
.am&utm_medium=TVo&utm_content=redirect> Oxfam and 21 similar agencies to
call for a "massive injection" of emergency aid.
An international donors conference in Oslo, Norway, on 20 May will give some
indication of whether these increasingly urgent pleas will be heard.
However, this desperate situation will continue to deteriorate until the
government and the rebels are committed to lasting peace.
<http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/apr/18/south-sudan-refug
ees-peace-ethiopia-crisis> Peace talks, in Ethiopia, have made little
progress and remain paused. Both sides have broken the ceasefire deal they
signed in January, in part in the hope that military victories will lead to
a stronger hand at the negotiating table. The suspicion is that the fighting
will continue at its current murderous pitch until at least the rainy
season. When the downpours start it will become difficult for people to move
freely. If the war continues in the same vein, Bentiu will not be the last
massacre in South Sudan.
MDG : a rebel fighter stands in front of Kali-Ballee mosque, Bentiu, South
Sudan
Bentiu, South Sudan: a rebel fighter stands oustide Kali-Ballee mosque,
where more than 200 civilians were reportedly killed and some 400 wounded.
Photograph: Reuters
(image/jpeg attachment: image003.jpg)