UNMISS condemns murder of S Sudan aid workers, calls for justice
United Nations peacekeepers warn of a “descent into lawlessness in Maban County” and are calling for justice after seven aid workers were killed there by a government-backed militia.
At least seven aid workers are reported to have been killed: one aid worker was killed on Monday, five more were killed yesterday and a seventh is missing but presumed dead, according to UNMISS.
They were targeted on the basis of their ethnicity. All were ethnic Nuers.
“The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) condemns in the strongest possible terms the killing by the so-called Mabanese Defence Forces of at least five South Sudanese employees of humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) earlier today in and around Bunj, Maban County, in Upper Nile State,” reads a press statement.
UNMISS explains, “Two of the victims were murdered in Bunj Town, a third aid worker is reported as missing but presumed dead. Another three died in an ambush as they were attempting to return to the town.”
The Mission says the same militia is responsible for the “heinous murder” of an employee of Norwegian People’s aid on Monday.
“The militia group is reportedly targeting civilians of Nuer origin after they clashed with defecting Nuer soldiers and suffered casualties,” adds the UN statement.
Dozens of aid workers have sought shelter at the UNHCR main compound near the Doro camp. Thousands of civilians from Bunj also fled to Doro.
Prior to the violence the UN Mission had no troops in the county, but they dispatched a unit in four armored personnel carriers from a base in the neighboring Melut County late on Tuesday. It is expected to reach Doro area within about a day.
UNMISS stated also that South Sudan army reinforcements are also en route to Bunj to “rein in the militia elements.”
“The Mission calls upon local, state and national authorities to bring to justice the individuals responsible for these murders as soon as possible to halt the ongoing descent into lawlessness in Maban County,” reads the UNMISS statement.
The UN Mission expects the humanitarian impact of the ethnically targeted attacks on unarmed aid workers to be “very drastic.”
Aid workers in Maban County have been providing food, shelter, medical care and other relief items to over 127,000 refugees from Sudan for over three years.
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