Fighting breaks out despite peace efforts
Days after what was considered a final peace deal was penned, the rebel group SPLA-IO in South Sudan reported that they were attacked by government troops at two of their bases. The deputy spokesperson of the SPLA-IO Lam Paul Gabriel said that the government forces attacked them at Mundu in Lainya county and also in Mangalatore. Mr. Gabriel reported that eight officials were killed in the first attack while SPLA soldiers were killed in the second attack.[1]
Ina separate incident, a government soldier attacked a UN peace keeping convoy and injured one peacekeeper. ON Saturday 15 September while a convoy of four cars including water trucks were travelling to Yei, a government soldier opened fire at the convoy and hit one of the soldiers. [2]
Reik Machar asked to release detainees
The member of parliament representing Tore Count in Yei state Matatias Nemaya called on Dr. Riek Machar to release the civilians that were abducted in July this year. The MP said that that 40 civilians who were abducted included of women, youth and the elderly. The 40 abductees were taken from their farms by commander Emmanuel Gadi on 24 July and held in SPLA-IO detention facilities in Madile village. One of the people that escaped the detention facility said that they were subjected to hard manual labor among other laborious tasks. The MP said that the people of Yei are peace loving people and those that were abducted were innocent and therefore should be released immediately. [3]
Sordid brutality in Unity State
An Amnesty international report called “Anything that was Breathing was killed.” Reveals the gruesome acts of violence that the soldiers of South Sudan committed on the civilians in Unity State between April and July 2018. The report documents the accounts of some one hundred civilians that survived. According to the survivors, the soldiers killed, tortured and gang raped girls and women. Some of the testimonies mention how the soldiers set houses on fire while some soldiers would hit children on trees to kill them.
Other testimonies say how some of the soldiers used amphibious vehicles to reach the civilians that would hide in swamps. Even those that hid in plantations were not safe as the soldiers would shower the plantations with bullets to kill and flush out the people that were hiding. Some girls as young as eight years were raped [4]
[1] “South Sudan’s main rebel group accuses government of violating ceasefire,” 15 September 2018, Reuters available at https://www.reuters.com/article/southsudan-unrest/south-sudans-main-rebel-group-accuses-government-of-violating-ceasefire-idUSL5N1W107U?rpc=401&
[2] “South Sudanese soldier attacks peacekeeping convoy in Yei,” 16 September 2018, Sudan Tribune available at http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article66259
[3] “Yei authorities demand release of 40 civilians abducted by SPLA-IO,” 17 September 2018, Radio Tamazuj, available at https://radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/yei-authorities-demand-release-of-40-civilians-abducted-by-spla-io
[4] “South Sudan: civilians hanged from trees and women gang-raped in fresh atrocities – report,” 19 September 2018, Amnesty international available at https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/south-sudan-civilians-hanged-trees-and-women-gang-raped-fresh-atrocities-report
