August 28, 2020 (JUBA) - More than eight hundred were killed in South Sudan tribal clashes during the past three months from April to June, said the United Nations Mission in South Sudan in a report issued on Friday.

During the second quarter of 2020, the UNMISS documented more than 417 incidents where 887 killed, 531 injured, 176 abducted and 26 subjected to sexual violence, said a report prepared by the Human Rights Division.

The proportion of those killed rose by slightly more than one third (35%) during the second quarter compared with the first one. Also, this second part of the year was more violent than the corresponding period in 2019.

However, the tribal clashes remain the main form of violence in the country as it accounted for more than 86% of the victims in the second quarter of 2020.

UNMISS “also noted that during the reporting period, clashes amongst different Dinka sections in Greater Bahr el Ghazal accounted for 34 % of the victims of inter-communal violence, while clashes opposing allied Dinka, Gawar and Lou Nuer sections against the Murle were responsible for 20% of victims of this form of violence”.

The actors “fueling and benefitting from inter-communal violence continued to pose a threat to the peace process and a serious risk of further fragmentation of the conflict,” further stressed the report.

The report underscored that among those actors fuelling the tribal clashes there are the community-based militias, civil defence groups, conventional parties to the conflict, political and spiritual leaders.

(ST)