GENEVA, Switzerland, January 17, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/
-- Fighting in South Sudan has turned into a horrifying humanitarian and
human rights disaster with mass atrocities committed by both sides, UN
Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonovic said on
Friday at the end of a four-day visit to the country.
“The
conflict has now reached the threshold of an internal armed conflict,
causing untold suffering for thousands of civilians,” said Šimonovic.
“Mass
atrocities have been committed by both sides. During my visit, I have
received reports of mass killings, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary
detention, enforced disappearances, sexual violence, the widespread
destruction of property and the use of children in the conflict,” he
said. “One month of conflict has set South Sudan back a decade.”
“Thousands
of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands are now displaced,
with some 70,000 people seeking protection in UN camps and 30,000 in
the two UN compounds in Juba alone,” he added.
“Clearly the
crisis, which started as a political one, has now taken on an
inter-ethnic dimension that urgently needs to be addressed. People on
both sides are absolutely convinced that the other side is to blame,
which makes the situation even more dangerous. This highlights the need
for an independent fact-finding commission to establish the truth of
these terrible events,” said Šimonovic.
“The worst affected
communities are in Juba and in communities which have changed hands
several times, like those in Bentiu and Bor. This has led to widespread
communal violence and destruction. I have not been able to visit
Malakal, so I cannot comment on the situation there,” Šimonovic
highlighted.
The Assistant Secretary-General visited the town
of Bentiu, Unity State, which has been the scene of heaving fighting
over the past few weeks.
“What I saw was a horror.
Destruction and death is everywhere in Bentiu, which has now become a
ghost town,” he said. “I myself saw some 15 bodies lying on a road. The
extent of the looting, burning and destruction is hard to grasp for
anybody who hasn't been there.”
Šimonovic also visited Bor,
which is located in Jonglei State. “All civilians have fled the city
which was a ghost town. I spoke to the leader of the anti-government
forces, Peter Gadet, to remind him of his and his forces obligations to
protect civilians.”
In Juba, the Assistant Secretary-General also
received allegations of a mass atrocity at a police station in the
Gudele neighbourhood of the city where large numbers of civilians were
reportedly rounded up, taken to a building and killed because of their
ethnicity. “We are continuing our investigation into this very serious
incident,” Šimonovic said.
In Juba, Bor and Bentiu, the Assistant
Secretary-General met senior government officials, anti-government
forces, armed groups, UN officials, the diplomatic community and a wide
range of civil society actors, including traditional and community
leaders. He also met displaced people and victims of the fighting.
“Accountability
is key. An independent and impartial fact-finding commission should be
established as quickly as possible. Those who committed these terrible
crimes, who ordered them or those who did nothing to prevent them while
they were in a position to do so, all these people should be held
accountable without delay,” he said. “I made this very clear to
military leaders on both sides.”
The United Nations Mission in
South Sudan (UNMISS) has played a key role in protecting civilians over
the past few weeks, Šimonovic noted. “If UNMISS had not opened their
gates to protect civilians fleeing the violence, there is no doubt that
killings on an even larger scale would have happened. Their impartial
presence is also of great importance to help preventing further
atrocities from being committed and for the protection of civilians. The
reinforcement of their human rights
