South Sudan and UN peacekeepers failed to act on warnings of a massacre that ended with more than 200 dead in March, Amnesty International said Thursday.
On March 1, at least 1,000 armed men from the Nuer ethnic group launched a four-hour assault in Abiemnom County, near the Sudanese border, killing more than 200 people, including children, and injuring many others. In its investigation, the rights group found that both South Sudanese authorities and the UN Mission in South Sudan received warnings at least two weeks in advance that a nearby community was preparing weapons and fighters to seek revenge for a previous attack. Seven people were killed outside the rear gates of the UNMISS base, where residents had fled for protection. Some victims were shot at close range after being captured or wounded.
“In the morning, [town residents] trying to run to UNMISS found the Nuer groups standing there and [shooting at them],” a local town leader told Amnesty. Witnesses told Amnesty that attackers shot residents in their homes and courtyards, as well as people fleeing or seeking shelter. “They pulled my cousin from under the bed and shot him in the head and killed him on the spot,” a 20-year-old survivor recounted.
