South Sudan IDPs worried on safety after UN base attack
September 28, 2017 (BENTIU) – Internally displaced persons living within the United Nation protection of civilian sites in Bentiu have expressed disappointment over the continued insecurity situation in one of South Sudan largest civilians’ protection camp in Unity State.
“The UN forces have failed to protect civilians as more crimes and killing of people are happening on their watch,” he said.
One person was killed and four others were critically injured when a group of unidentified attackers stormed the UN camp at about 12:00 am.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, although internally displaced person blamed government forces over the incident.
Rebecca Toch, 26, described the attack as one of the worst ever to have happened and that those needed life support treatment.
The attackers, eyewitnesses said, used AK-47 rifles and explosive devices to fire at the UN camp, which under UN the peacekeepers.
Currently Bentiu UN camp hosts over 121,000 displaced people and is one of the bigger protection sites in the war-torn South Sudan.
In the past, however, the UN has witnessed similar attacks at its bases in Malakal, Bor, Bentiu and Akobo when civil war broke out in 2013.
According to the world body, attacks on its UN bases as well as on civilians under the protection of peacekeepers constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
South Sudan’s civil war broke out in December 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup. A peace deal signed in August 2015 led to the formation of a coalition government, but was again devastated by fresh violence that broke out in July last year.
Tens of thousands of South Sudanese have been killed, with millions of others displaced and over 4 million people left severely food insecure since December 2013.
(ST)