http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21601244-civil-wars-worst-massacre-ensures-war-will-get-still-bloodier-new?frsc=dg|a
South Sudan A new depth of horrorThe civil war's worst massacre ensures
that the war will get still bloodier
Apr 26th 2014 | NAIROBI | From the print edition
EVEN in a civil war that has been rife with atrocities, the scale of the
massacre of civilians in South Sudan's oil hub of Bentiu on April 15th-16th
plumbed a new depth of hell. The rebel White Army (pictured), so-called
after the ash its fighters sometimes smear on themselves, killed anyone
they suspected of supporting the government, including--it is reported--200
people in a single mosque and others in churches and aid-agency compounds.
Local radio broadcasts helped to stir up ethnic hatred and to direct the
violence at perceived enemies of Riek Machar, the vice-president, whose
sacking by President Salva Kiir nearly a year ago led to the civil war that
erupted in December.
Members of Mr Machar's Nuer tribe were evidently encouraged to cheer on the
violence. Toby Lanzer, a UN official who visited Bentiu in the massacre's
aftermath, said he saw "piles and piles" of bodies, almost all of whom
appeared to be civilians. The killings were, he said, "perhaps the most
shocking set of circumstances" in the four-month-old conflict. They were a
"game-changer".
Yet, despite the ensuing outcry, outside mediators have few means of
changing the game for the better. The fighting has swilled viciously back
and forth over the handful of towns that make up the pitifully poor
country. With each new offensive, large numbers of civilians from the two
main ethnic groups, the Dinka, from which Mr Kiir hails, and Mr Machar's
Nuer, have found themselves caught in enemy territory. Both sides have
committed atrocities.
Messrs Kiir and Machar have each recklessly sought to involve outside
parties to gain the upper hand. Uganda has backed Mr Kiir's government with
a large force. The rump state of Sudan to the north has sold weapons to
both sides; Ethiopia is courted by the rebels, who accuse Egypt, with whom
Ethiopia has sour relations, of backing Mr Kiir.
The atrocities in Bentiu threaten to regionalise the civil war more. The
attackers appear to have deliberately targeted traders from Darfur, the
troubled western region of Sudan. This may have been an act of revenge,
because the Justice and Equality Movement, a Darfuri rebel group that seeks
to overthrow Sudan's government in Khartoum, had previously helped attack
Mr Machar's forces.
Meanwhile, the UN has increasingly found itself in the line of fire. More
than 50,000 civilians are sheltering in five of its bases. Some 10,000 UN
peacekeepers are trying to protect them, but on April 20th they failed to
do so when 58 people were killed by a mob of largely Dinka youths who
attacked the UN base in Bor, a town that has changed hands four times since
the fighting began. More than 1m of South Sudan's 6m people have fled their
homes. Tens of thousands have been killed. Hugely reliant on foreign aid,
the country is on the brink of widespread famine.
Even so, large delegations representing the rebels and the government have
been staying for months in plush hotels in neighbouring Ethiopia,
supposedly negotiating for peace. They half-heartedly agreed in January to
a ceasefire, but failed to uphold it on the ground. Foreign diplomats close
to the talks see scant prospect of progress.
The roots of the conflict lie in a failure to build the basis of a
functional state. When South Sudan got full independence from the north in
2011, its abundant aid money and oil revenue (virtually its sole domestic
source of income) were used for two baleful purposes: to pay for an
expanding army and to enrich the country's new elite.
But when the oil income shrank, thanks to chronic instability and the
pipeline's periodic closure, elements of the army and the elite were set
against each other as they sought to retain or expand their share of the
wealth. South Sudan's main international sponsors, such as the United
States and the EU, have become less willing to pay off the warlords to keep
the peace. Instead, the Americans are thinking of targeting the one thing
that both sides have in common: wealth stashed abroad. Key people may face
sanctions, such as travel bans and asset freezes. But a list of names has
yet to be drawn up.
For once there are no glaring divisions in the UN Security Council over
South Sudan. China, whose large investment in South Sudan's oil is under
threat, is in tune with the West. This rare consensus could enable the
Security Council to impose an arms embargo on all sides. The International
Criminal Court at The Hague could also get involved, though that would be
opposed by several governments in the region, especially those of Sudan and
Kenya, whose leaders have been indicted in separate cases. Meanwhile, there
is little hope of a quick end to the horror. No side is winning. Hopes of
building a new country from scratch are drowning in blood.
>From the print edition: Middle East and Africa
Received on Fri Apr 25 2014 - 16:44:49 EDT