South Sudan security denies causing clashes in displaced camps
November 6, 2014 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s security agency has categorically denied any involvement in recent clashes that erupted in UN camps sheltering internally displaced people (IDPs).
At least 60 people were injured, some seriously, after violence erupted netween two major Nuer sections in Jebel IDP camp in the capital, Juba.
According to the officer, the clashes were caused by a dispute over a woman and had no connection to politics.
“There was no security matter to warrant our attention. What happened was that someone from within a Nuer section had gone with a wife of another person and made her his wife. This angered the brothers in law and sparked the clash,” the officer claimed.
Meanwhile, presidential spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny has expressed concern over the behavior of some of the internally displaced people living in the camps.
“In actual fact, the government is very concerned of the situation in which these civilians are living in the camps. They are doing things, which the United Nations itself does not like. They are involved in fighting among themselves, raping young ladies and all those immoral activities which they could not have done if they were outside in their homes,” Ateny told Sudan Tribune.
The presidential aide also denied the government had any hand in the violent outbreak, echoing the claims of the senior officer that the clashes were triggered by tensions over a married woman’s adulterous affair with another man.
According to Ateny, woman had sought refuge at the UN camp after her husband joined the rebel movement, where she began a relationship with another man and subsequently fell pregnant.
“When this came to the notice of the brothers in law, it caused tension and sparked a clash among them,” he said.
“This is a fact, and this is exactly what happened. The government has no hand in the clash. Ask [the] United Nations and wait to see what they will tell you was the cause of the conflict,” he added.
The South Sudanese government and rebel forces have been locked in an armed struggle since mid-December last year after a political dispute divided the country’s ruling party (SPLM) and reignited tribal tensions.
Tens of thousands of civilians have sought shelter at UN compounds across the country since the conflict erupted.
Overcrowded conditions and tribal tensions have increasingly become a source of conflict at the camps.
On Wednesday, UN police personnel were attacked at the Bentiu site in oil-rich Unity state by civilians armed with machetes, steel rods and spears at they attempted to break up a fight among youth groups.
Five IDPs sustained minor injuries during the incident.
Meanwhile, a UN spokesperson said tensions are also running high at IDP camps in Upper Nile state capital Malakal, where clashes broke out a week ago.
(ST)
– UN expresses concerns over violence inside IDP camps in South Sudan