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Südsudan: Rebellenchef weist Verantwortung von sich

Ermordung Hunderter Zivilisten in der Stadt Bentiu bestritten / Katastrophale Lage in den Flüchtlingslagern *

Nach mehreren Massakern in Südsudan hat Rebellenführer Riek Machar die Verantwortung für die Morde zurückgewiesen.

Seine Kämpfer hätten mit der Ermordung Hunderter Zivilisten bei der Einnahme der Stadt Bentiu im Norden Südsudans nichts zu tun, sagte Rebellenführer Machar nach Berichten des arabischen Senders Al-Dschasira vom Dienstag. Unterdessen verschärft sich nach UN-Angaben die Lage in den Lagern der Vereinten Nationen für Flüchtlinge aus Bentiu.

Die UN-Mission in Südsudan (UNMISS) warf Machar am Montag vor, in Bentiu in der vergangenen Woche Hunderte Südsudanesen und ausländische Zivilisten wegen ihrer ethnischen Zugehörigkeit ermordet zu haben. Demnach wurden Menschen in einer Moschee, einer Kirche und einem Krankenhaus angegriffen. Allein in der Moschee sollen etwa 200 Opfer gezählt worden sein.

Mehrere lokale Radiosender hätten vorher Hetze gegen bestimmte ethnische Gruppen verbreitet und Männer aufgefordert, Frauen der anderen Ethnie zu vergewaltigen. Die jüngsten Konflikte in dem erst seit Sommer 2011 unabhängigen Südsudan begannen Mitte Dezember. Hintergrund ist der Machtkampf zwischen Präsident Salva Kiir und Exvizepräsident Machar. Obwohl beide Anhänger unter mehreren Bevölkerungsgruppen haben, sind die Kämpfe ethnisch aufgeladen. Kiir ist Dinka, Machar ist Nuer. Schon während des langen Unabhängigkeitskrieges gegen Sudan gab es brutale Kämpfe zwischen diesen beiden größten Ethnien Südsudans. Die Erinnerungen daran mischen sich jetzt mit den aktuellen Konflikten.

Der leitende UN-Vertreter in Südsudan, Toby Lanzer, sprach von »Haufen von Leichen« in Bentiu. Die Szenen in der Stadt seien vielleicht »das Schockierendste« gewesen, was er in seinem Leben bisher gesehen habe, sagte er BBC. Unter den Toten seien auch viele Händler aus Sudan, vor allem aus der ebenfalls umkämpften Region Darfur.

Seit dem Beginn der Kämpfe flohen etwa eine Million Menschen aus ihren Häusern. Viele von ihnen suchen Zuflucht auf den Grundstücken der Vereinten Nationen, die für einen solchen Andrang nicht ausgelegt und völlig überfüllt sind. So spitzt sich auf dem UN-Gelände mit 23 000 aus Bentiu geflohenen Menschen nahe der sudanesischen Grenze der Wasser- und Lebensmittelmangel zu.

Jeder Flüchtling erhält UNICEF zufolge nur einen Liter sauberes Wasser pro Tag. Jeweils 350 müssten sich eine Latrine teilen. Wegen der Kämpfe sei es unmöglich, Wasser und Nahrungsmittel in ausreichender Menge in das Lager zu schaffen.

* Aus: neues deutschland, Mittwoch 23. April 2014


South Sudan: UN says surging violence claimed lives of children, worsened malnutrition among survivors **

22 April 2014 – Confirming that children were killed in South Sudan during recent brutal attacks on displaced civilians or as a result of being recruited by armed groups, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned today that the surging violence is exacerbating an already “very dangerous” malnutrition crisis.

The children were among the dozens of internally displaced persons (IDPs) attacked by gunmen on 17 April while sheltering at a UN site in the central South Sudanese town of Bor, capital of strife-torn Jonglei state, UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac told reporters in Geneva.

“The exact numbers are currently being verified,” he said, adding that up to 23,000 people are currently sheltering at the UN base in Bentiu. Some of the children were killed either in direct attacks or as a result of being caught in the crossfire.

Over the past two months, thousands of people are believed to have been killed by fighting that began in mid-December 2013 as a political dispute between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy president, Riek Machar. Since last Thursday, as fresh violence has swept towns in the northern and central parts of the country, clashes and reprisal attacks have forced thousands of people to seek refuge at the bases of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

“This is fierce, brutal infantry fighting – children must not be instruments of this conflict,” UNICEF's Jonathan Veitch said earlier of the most recent violence. “Those in positions of command and leadership have a duty to keep children out of harm's way and take all necessary measures to prevent children being part of armed groups and forces.”

Meanwhile, UNMISS has strongly condemned the violence, in which hundreds of civilians are thought to have been killed or injured, and which is believed to have been motivated by ethnicity and nationality. The fighting is also linked to a series of attacks in Bentiu town on hundreds of people in who hid in a hospital, mosque and church, and a UN World Food Programme (WFP) compound. The Mission is sheltering some 75,000 civilians throughout the country.

According to a UN spokesperson, the Mission reported today that many dead bodies remain by the side of the main road between Bentiu and Rubkona – and that the Rubkona market has been repeatedly looted.

UNMISS also says that on last Thursday, four rockets were directed at the Mission's base in Bentiu including two that exploded within the compound and one just outside. Two civilians that had been seeking shelter inside were injured.

Elsewhere in Unity State, the Mission has received reports that after fighting over the weekend, Opposition forces are in control of Mayom town, which is some 70 kilometres east of Bentiu.

As for Jonglei state, the Mission reports that the situation in Bor is tense. Yesterday, UN staff met with community leaders from the protection site to discuss security in light of Thursday's attack, and explained measures taken, including enhancements to the berm wall.

In Upper Nile State, the Mission also reports artillery explosions in Renk yesterday. Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and Opposition forces clashed in Renk over the weekend, and shells landed close to the base, wounding two UN contractors on Saturday.

“The Mission strongly condemns the fighting close to its premises where it continues to protect tens of thousands of civilians” said the spokesperson, adding that the UN once again reiterates the necessity for all parties to respect the inviolability of UN premises and assets, and to respect the life-saving work done by the United Nations in South Sudan.

In related news, UN Special Rapporteur Chaloka Beyani today warned that the deliberate ethnic targeting is further eroding protection for the displaced civilians.

“The safety and security of the displaced populations must be the absolute priority for the United Nations to safeguard,” stressed the independent expert tasked by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor, report and advise on the human rights of IDPs worldwide.

He urged all parties to the conflict to abstain from violence against IDPs and other civilians, and also called for communities to stop hate speech which are increasingly being heard over the airwaves, some calling on men from one community to commit vengeful sexual violence against women from another community.

This latest spate of killings is also worsening an already precarious food and water situation, making malnutrition increasingly likely for some 50,000 children under five years of age who could die by the end of the year without urgent action.

A quarter of a million children would suffer from acute malnutrition by the end of the year, UNICEF announced today.

UNICEF's immediate goal is to reach 150,000 children under five years old currently suffering from malnutrition, “partly through rapid response teams that would deliver ready to use therapeutic foods, micronutrients among others,” Mr. Boulierac said.

Access to clean water is also a concern at the UN base in Bentiu, where there are currently only one or two bottles for each person per day. UNICEF staff are attempting to drill boreholes to provide more drinking water to the camps to balance out the “inadequate” water access.

The agency is calling for $38 million to meet nutrition needs in the country. That is in addition to a $1.3 billion appeal which is now just 38 per cent funded, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

** UN News Centre, 22 April 2014, http://www.un.org


UN mission in South Sudan condemns ethnic killings in Bentiu ***

21 April 2014 – Opposition forces in South Sudan killed “hundreds of South Sudanese and foreign civilians” after determining their ethnicity or nationality when they captured Bentiu last week, the United Nations confirmed today, calling for an immediate stop to the targeting of “innocent, unarmed” civilians.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) strongly condemned the killings, which reportedly included attacks on a hospital, mosque and church, and a UN World Food Programme (WFP) compound.

“These atrocities must be fully investigated and the perpetrators and their commanders shall be held accountable,” said the Officer in Charge of UNMISS, Raisedon Zenenga, who also urged the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) forces and the Government troops to respect the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement they signed in January.

Over the past two months, thousands of people are believed to have been killed by fighting that began in mid-December as a political dispute between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy president, Riek Machar.

The Mission also decried the use of hate speech over the radio “declaring that certain ethnic groups should not stay in Bentiu and even calling on men from one community to commit vengeful sexual violence against women from another community”.

The attacks took place between 15 and 16 April, in the same timeframe that UNMISS extracted hundreds of civilians, some injured, who had taken refuge in places throughout Bentiu and Rubkona. The Mission is currently protecting more than 12,000 civilians on its base, and some 60,000 others around the country.

At the Bentiu Hospital, several Nuer men, women and children were killed on 15 April for hiding and refusing to join other Nuers who had gone out to cheer the SPLA as they entered the town.

“Individuals from other South Sudanese communities, as well as Darfuris, were specifically targeted and killed at the hospital,” UNMISS confirmed in today’s statement.

According to the Mission, the SPLA also entered the Kali-Ballee Mosque where civilians had taken shelter, separated people into nationalities and ethnic groups, and killed some of them.

“More than 200 civilians were reportedly killed and over 400 wounded at the Mosque,” UNMISS said.

At a Catholic church and at the vacated WFP compound, SPLA soldiers similarly asked civilians who had taken refuge there to identify their ethnic origins and nationalities and proceeded to target and kill several individuals.

In an interview with UN Radio, Joseph Contreras, Acting Spokesperson of UMISS, said that along with condemning the bloodletting in Bentiu, the Mission deplored the hate speech and incitement to violence as “especially regrettable and unfortunate, given what happened in Rwanda 20 years ago, when radio stations were used to broadcast the hate messages” that fanned the flames of tension, ultimately sparking mass ethnic killings in that country.

While it was difficult to establish a direct like between the hate messages and the violence that erupted on 15 April, “at a minimum, the airing of such messages only further poisons the political and social climate of that part of South Sudan and polarizes even further between the leading ethnic groups in the region.”

“We’ve been monitoring the broadcast of hate messages on a regular basis since the crisis first broke out…and we have called on relevant national state and local authorities to take all measures possible to prevent the airing of such messages,” continued Mr. Contreras, adding on a more optimistic note that some of the opposition commanders among those that had captured Bentiu last week had broadcast messages of a very different nature, calling for unity and an end to tribalism in South Sudan.

Unfortunately, those appeals for reason had had to compete with messages of “sheer ethnically- based hatred.”

In all this, he said, UMISS hopes that when negotiating delegations reconvene on 23 April in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, that the new round of peace talks can lead to a more comprehensive political settlement of the differences separating the parties.

“Clearly, the Cessation of Hostilities agreement signed over three months ago has been violated repeatedly by forces loyal to both sides and it a source of concern and considerable dismay to UNMISS that those violations continue” in spite of repeated calls from the United Nations and the wider international community for both sides to honour scrupulously the accord two which they had both agreed.

*** UN News Centre, 22 April 2014, http://www.un.org


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