Protect civilians in Jonglei, UN tells S. Sudan government
April 5, 2013 (JUBA)- The Government of South Sudan must do more to protect communities at risk of attacks and bring to justice those found guilty, a United Nations report on the conflict in the country’s largest state, recommends.
“It is of utmost importance that the Government continues to call for restraint and engages with all communities to prevent a further escalation of violence,” the mission said in a statement.
Jonglei, South Sudan’s most populous state, has largely been unstable since the country’s independence 20 months ago. Currently, nearly 17,000 people displaced by the conflict in the region, according to the UN, desparately need food assistance.
The mission, in its report specifically expressed concerns abiut the potential revenge attacks, following the 8 February attack near Walgak in Jonglei’s West Akobo county.
“The Walgak attack represents the highest single loss of life since an increase in inter-communal violence began several months ago,” the mission said.
Majority of those killed, according to the UN, were mainly women and children.
“It is of grave concern that so many people were killed in such a brutal attack,” said Richard Bennet, the mission’s human rights director.
Meanwhile the report largest attributes escalation of attacks in the region on the widespread availability of weapons, insecurity, marginalization and lack of development.
The criminal incident of violence in deep-rooted inter-community relations, particularly between the Lou Nuer and Murle communities of Jonglei, it says, has largely exercerbated the conflict in the region.
DIPLOMATS WORRY
The UN report comes less than a week after representatives for Canada, France, USA, United Kingdom and Norway presented a demarche to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Juba, on the current situation in Jonglei.
“We are concerned about the situation in Jonglei State. Militia forces, the lack of infrastructure and economic opportunities and seasonal migration contribute towards an environment where the rule of law is scarce and civilian lives are endangered,” the joint statement reads in part.
The diplomats, in the statement, called upon South Sudanese authorities, its organised forces, faith and ethnic groups, to urge their people to stop the violence, move back from confrontation and return to the agreed resolutions from the Jonglei Peace Conference.
The killing in Jonglei, they argued, could undermine propects for peace and prosperity, that South Sudanese fought for during its over two decade civil war with neighbouring Sudan.
“We welcome the efforts of GRSS [Government of the Republic of South Sudan] to bring renegade David Yau Yau and other armed groups in from the bush peacefully. These groups’ violent acts are harming the prospects for peace in Jonglei State, and harming the people they claim to represent,” noted the statement.
The risk of indiscriminate or disproportionate use of force is high, and must be avoided at all costs, it added.
(ST)