From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Thu Jan 07 2010 - 11:19:18 EST
Tribesmen kill 139 in south Sudan raid - official
Thu Jan 7, 2010 1:23pm GMT
* Aid groups warn region on brink of return to conflict
* Attack latest in string of tribal raids in remote south (Adds detail,
background)
By Skye Wheeler
JUBA, Sudan, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Armed Nuer tribesmen have killed at least 139
members of a rival tribe in an attack in a remote area of southern Sudan, an
official said on Thursday.
The Nuer gunmen attacked Dinka cattle herders on Saturday in Tonj East, one
of the most remote parts of oil-producing south Sudan, and seized about
5,000 animals, the deputy governor of the surrounding Warrap state, Sabino
Makana, told Reuters.
"They killed 139 people and wounded 54. Nobody knows how many attackers were
killed. But it may be many as a lot of people came to fight."
A surge of tribal violence in 2009 resulted in the deaths of about 2,500
people and forced 350,000 to flee their homes in the south, a report issued
by ten aid groups including Oxfam, Save the Children and TearFund said on
Thursday. [ID:nLDE6060ZB]
There was now a risk the violence could escalate, undermining a fragile 2005
peace deal that ended more than two decades of north-south civil war, the
report added.
"A lethal cocktail of rising violence, chronic poverty and political
tensions has left the peace deal on the brink of collapse," it said.
The underdeveloped region has long been plagued by violent tribal clashes,
often involving cattle-rustling, although the scale of recent attacks has
shocked observers.
Southern leaders last year accused Khartoum of backing militias to undermine
the south, although some politicians acknowledged southern officials may
also have been arming fellow tribesmen to build up support ahead of
elections due in April.
Khartoum dismissed the accusation.
The United Nations told Reuters it was sending a team to the Tonj East area
to check on the reports, saying other sources had confirmed there were a
large number of deaths.
Lise Grande, the head of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the south, said fighting had also been
reported in three other areas.
The report from the ten aid agencies called on U.N. peacekeepers to step up
protection of civilians and urged donors to increase funding for development
programmes.
World powers also needed to do more to mediate between northern and southern
leaders as the country prepared for political flashpoints, including
elections due in April and a referendum on whether the south should split
off as an independent country in January 2011, said the report.
"It is not yet too late to avert disaster, but the next 12 months are a
crossroads for Africa's largest country," Oxfam policy advisor Maya Mailer
said in a statement.
"Last year saw a surge in violence in southern Sudan. This could escalate
even further and become one of the biggest emergencies in Africa in 2010."
The north-south war that began in 1983 killed around 2 million people and
drove 4 million from their homes, destabilising much of east Africa.
The long clash between the Muslim north and the south, where most follow
Christianity and traditional beliefs, was also complicated by conflicts over
ethnicity, ideology and oil. (Writing by Andrew Heavens; Editing by Noah
Barkin)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
TIMELINE-Violence spirals in south Sudan
Thu Jan 7, 2010 1:25pm GMT
Jan 7 (Reuters) - Armed Nuer tribesmen killed at least 139 members of a
rival tribe in an attack in a remote area of southern Sudan, an official
said on Thursday.
A surge of ethnic violence has resulted in the deaths of more than 2,500
people and forced 350,000 to flee their homes in 2009, according to a report
issued by ten aid groups.
The violence has raised fears for the stability of the oil-producing
territory, which secured a referendum and a semi-autonomous government in a
2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war with the
north. The conflict, which also set southern tribe against southern tribe,
left lingering resentments in a region already riven by traditional disputes
over territory and cattle. Here are details of some of the worst fighting:
MARCH 5-13, 2009 - At least 453 people, mainly women and children, are
killed in attacks by the Lou Nuer tribe on at least 17 villages of the rival
Murle ethnic group in Jonglei. The Lou Nuer say the incidents were
retaliation for large-scale cattle raiding and attacks on Lou Nuer villages
in January.
APRIL 18-19 - At least 177 people are killed in attacks on 16 villages of
the Lou Nuer tribe by Murle fighters. Women and children are targeted in
what are widely seen as revenge attacks for the March violence.
JUNE 12 - Jikany Nuer, like the Lou a sub-group of the large Nuer tribe,
attack barges carrying U.N. food aid on the Sobat River to Lou Nuer areas in
Jonglei. At least 40 southern soldiers and boat crew are killed.
AUG. 2 - Murle attack a Lou Nuer fishing settlement near Akobo town in
Jonglei State, killing 185 people. Southern soldiers guarding the camp are
also killed.
AUG. 28 - Around 800 Lou Nuer attack Wernyol, a Dinka Bor village in Jonglei
State, killing 38 and wounding 76. The south's army said this was the work
of a Lou Nuer militia, adding that a Murle militia also exists.
SEPT. 20 - A large group of fighters from the Lou Nuer ethnic group attack
Duk Padiet village, inhabited by the Dinka Hol tribe, in Jonglei. More than
100 people are killed.
OCT. 3-5 - At least 23 people are killed and 21 injured in tit-for-tat
cattle raids between the Mundari and Dinka Bor tribes, the deputy governor
of Jonglei state says.
NOV. 15-16 - A vehicle carrying South Sudan's Agriculture Minister Samson
Kwaje is ambushed killing five and injuring the minister, the south's
Internal Affairs Minister said.
-- At least seven people are killed during an attack by fighters from the
Mundari tribe on the rival Dinka Aliap group in Awerial county in Lakes
state.
DEC. 31 - Seventeen people are killed when armed civilians ambushed south
Sudanese soldiers trying to disarm tribes following heavy fighting.
JAN. 2, 2010 - Nuer tribesmen attack Dinka cattle herders in Tonj East, a
remote part of oil-producing south Sudan, and seize about 5,000 animals. At
least 139 people are killed 54 wounded, a local official says.
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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