Rival South Sudanese forces accused of rights abuses

By Parach Mach

JUBA, South Sudan

U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused two main South Sudanese factions of carrying out numerous killings, disappearances, rapes, and other abuses in recent military confrontations in the southern town of Yei.

The two groups targeted in a HRW report released late Tuesday are the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and opposition fighters loyal to ex-Vice President Riek Machar.

Yei was peaceful and a beacon of relative stability throughout South Sudan’s nearly three-year conflict but a resurgence of violence in July in the capital Juba has spread to the town leading to the formation of pockets of rebellion in and around Yei.

Citing interviews with more than 70 victims and witnesses, the report said the abuses had started in August, with government troops attacking civilians in this area located in the southwestern part of the country.

Rebels belonging to ethnic groups populating the Greater Equatoria region and operating around Yei appeared to have targeted civilians of Dinka and Nuba ethnicity on the basis of their perceived affiliation to the government, stated the report.

The abuses on civilians suspected of having links to rebel militias appear to have been “widespread and systematic”.

The violence has taken on an ethnic dimension, with largely Dinka government soldiers targeting non-Dinka locals, the report noted.

- Attacks on Civilian Convoys

Rebels have increasingly been accused of targeting Dinka civilians, especially along the main roads leading to Juba.

On Oct. 8, rebels operating north of Yei attacked a civilian convoy transporting mostly Dinka civilians from Yei to Juba. More than two dozen civilians were killed, according to the report.

The rights group urged the UN Security Council to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on all forces in South Sudan in order to curtail abuses against civilians.

The group’s Africa director, Daniel Bekele, said: “A proposal for a United Nations arms embargo is finally on the table after nearly three years of atrocities against civilians by armed groups in South Sudan.”

South Sudan Army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang denied the allegations describing it as “propaganda” to derail peace efforts.

The Army has mechanisms in place to hold unruly soldiers responsible, he told Anadolu Agency.

More than 10,000 people have been killed and over 2 million displaced after a political dispute within South Sudan’s ruling party sparked off a civil war in 2013.