UN Official Wounded at Meeting to Reconcile South Sudan Tribes
By Jared Ferrie
Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) — A United Nations official was wounded while trying to mediate an end to fighting between two ethnic groups in South Sudan’s Warrap state that killed 78 people, mostly women and children, and wounded 72, the UN said.
A team of UN officials had to be evacuated after they came under fire during the meeting on Feb. 1 in the adjacent Unity state, Lise Grande, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, told reporters yesterday from the capital, Juba.
The wounded UN official is “fine,” Grande said, adding that the UN will continue to support reconciliation efforts in the wake of the attack.
More than 70,000 head of cattle were stolen during the attack last week, leaving about 40,000 people without a livelihood, Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said today in an e-mailed statement from Geneva.
–Editors: Karl Maier, Ben Holland
To contact the reporter on this story: Jared Ferrie in Juba, South Sudan at jferrie1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net
By Hannah McNeish (AFP) –
JUBA — Dozens of people were killed in South Sudan in a shootout at a peace meeting to resolve disputes about stolen cattle, with some reports claiming as many as 37 deaths, officials said Friday.
“These guys just started shooting everywhere,” said Gideon Gatpan Thoar, Unity state information minister, giving the figure of 37 people killed in Wednesday’s gunfight.
Local officials from Unity and neighbouring Lakes and Warrap states had been taken by the UN for talks to the remote town of Mayendit in Unity after a spate of cattle raids, including a brutal attack last week that killed 79 people.
“The fight just started there and no one knew the cause,” said Lakes state governor Chol Tong Mayay, after gathering accounts from witnesses. “People were just shooting at each other, without knowing whose police and army they were.”
Gunmen, reportedly including rival bodyguards, policemen, soldiers and armed government wildlife officers, sprayed the meeting room with bullets in the battle.
What exactly prompted the fight was not known, but United Nations peacekeepers said it erupted after one official interrupted the meeting and shouted at a counterpart.
Mayay said 22 people from Lakes state were killed and 24 wounded, but he did not know how many were killed from the two other states.
“Four pick-up trucks carrying armed men believed to be SPLA (army) and SSPS (police) then appeared and started shooting indiscriminately at the Mayendit County Commissioner’s compound,” the UN said, without giving a toll.
At least 15 people with gunshot wounds had been taken to a clinic in Unity state run by Doctors Without Borders, the medical aid agency said.
A staff member with the UN peacekeeping mission was wounded in the crossfire, while a wildlife service office was later torched in Lakes state, local officials said.
South Sudan — which declared independence from Sudan, its former civil war enemy to the north, in July — is reeling from multiple crises, including ethnic clashes, violent cattle raids and rebel attacks.
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos on Thursday voiced concern at the scale of violence after visiting war-wracked regions.
Last month, a militia army of up to 8,000 armed youths attacked a rival ethnic group in Jonglei state, with aid workers reporting horrific massacres, including babies beaten against trees and women hacked by machetes.
Juba is also embroiled in a furious row over oil pipeline transit and shipping fees with Khartoum.
South Sudan has said it has completed a shutdown of its oil production — the fledgling nation’s top revenue source — after it accused Sudan of stealing $815 million of its oil and African Union-mediated talks stalled.
| South Sudan shoot-out kills 37, wounds UN policeman Reuters JUBA (Reuters) – A shoot-out among South Sudanese security forces using truck-mounted machineguns killed 37 people and injured a United Nations policeman Wednesday, UN and government officials said Friday. The government in South Sudan – formed in July … |
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| U.N. mediates in South Sudan violence Dalje.com JUBA, South Sudan, Feb. 3 (UPI) — More than 37 people were fatally shot during a meeting intended to end violent conflict between ethnic factions in South Sudan, UN officials said. After a week of violent inter-ethnic clashes, Valerie Amos, … |
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| Sudan’s president warns of possible war with south The Seattle Times Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has warned of a war between Khartoum and South Sudanbecause their failure to settle a dispute over an oil export deal. The Associated Press No comments have been posted to this article. |
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