U.S : South Sudan fails to protect civilians in east,

[sudan]

am sure that the south Sudan government cant protect their people , and that is so clear since the independent

 

[sudan]

The United States issued a rare criticism of South Sudan on Wednesday, saying the African state was failing to protect civilians in the east where the army is fighting an insurgency.

Western powers have long urged Juba to find a peaceful solution to fighting involving the army, a rebel group and rival tribes in the vast Jonglei state but have so far mostly refrained from criticizing the government.



A United Nations source said new fighting erupted a week ago between the rival Lou Nuer and Murle tribes in the Pibor area in Jonglei, killing an unknown number of people.

More violence was expected as armed youths from both sides were amassing forces in the area, the source said. A U.N. team visiting the town said that most civilians had left Pibor, contrary to government figures, the United Nations said in a report.

The United States, South Sudan's biggest ally, said it was "deeply disappointed" that the army, or SPLA, had failed to protect civilians in vulnerable areas in Jonglei.

"The lack of action to protect civilians constitutes an egregious abdication of responsibility by the SPLA and the civilian government," the U.S. embassy in Juba said in a statement.

Washington urged the government to prevent "SPLA attacks on U.N. staff and humanitarian assets". It gave no details but soldiers had looted compounds of U.N. agencies and aid agencies in Pibor in May, according to aid sources.

South Sudan has struggled to turn its army, a loose group of former guerrillas formed the civil war with Khartoum, into a professional force since seceding from Sudan in 2011 under a 2005 peace deal. The U.S. was a driving force in pressuring Khartoum into allowing an independence vote.

The army has faced a rebellion by militia leader David Yau Yau but diplomats say the SPLA is fuelling dissent with abuses such as rape and torture committed during a state disarmament campaign.

A cycle of tribal violence has killed more than 1,600 people in Jonglei since South Sudan's secession, uprooting tens of thousands of civilians and hampering plans to explore for oil with the help of France's Total and U.S. firm Exxon.

Analysts say the roots of the tribal violence and cattle raids go back to South Sudan's failure to start development in Jonglei and elsewhere in the vast country due to corruption.

South Sudan fails to protect civilians in east, U.S. says

 

[Ropey]

Who do they have to protect their civilians from?

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article46459

 

[ScienceRocks]

Now these problems are in our cities and creeping into our legal system. These people are a joke.

 

[waltky]

Peacekeepers killed in Darfur ambush...

AMBUSH KILLS 7 UN PEACEKEEPERS IN SUDAN'S DARFUR
Jul 13,`13 -- Gunmen ambushed a United Nations peacekeeping team Saturday in Sudan's western region of Darfur, killing seven Tanzanians and wounding another 17 people in the deadliest ever single attack on the international force in the country, U.N. officials said.

The assault by a large group of gunmen included sustained heavy fire from machine guns and possibly rocket-propelled grenades, targeting the force some 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of the town of Khor Abeche, U.N. forces spokesman Chris Cycmanick said. Reinforcements later arrived to rescue the wounded, who included two female police advisers, the force said in a statement. A statement late Saturday on behalf of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon identified the dead as all being from Tanzania. About 40 countries have contributed military personnel or police to the peacekeeping force. The statement said Ban condemned the "heinous attack" and offered condolences to the families of the dead. The statement said it was the third attack on U.N. forces in the region in the last three weeks. Ban "expects that the government of Sudan will take swift action to bring the perpetrators to justice," the statement read.

Officials with the Sudanese government could not be immediately reached for comment. Peacekeepers have been targeted by assailants in the past in the region since the international force began its work there in 2008. In the last fatal attack, gunmen shot dead a Nigerian peacekeeper in April in East Darfur State. Before Saturday's attack, 150 people associated with the U.N. mission had been killed while on duty in the region, according to the force's website. The joint African Union-U.N. peacekeeping force, dubbed UNAMID, was established to protect civilians in Darfur, but also contributes to security for those providing humanitarian aid, verifying agreements, political reconciliation efforts and promoting human rights. It has about 16,500 troops and military observers and over 5,000 international police. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault Saturday. Tribal clashes remain common in the region and some former government militias have begun taking up arms again as fighting continues over land and resources.

A February report by a U.N. panel of experts said that some armed opposition groups angry about the presence of peacekeepers have called the force "a legitimate target." "On occasion, this discontent has also manifested itself in incidents of direct attacks on UNAMID staff and premises, although some of these incidents - especially those of carjacking and kidnapping of UNAMID peacekeepers - appear to have an overtly criminal intent of financial gain for the perpetrators," the report said. Darfur has been gripped by bloodshed since 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government in Khartoum. More than 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict. The International Criminal Court indicted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in 2009 on genocide and war crimes charges over the fighting in Darfur. The country split into Sudan and South Sudan in 2011.

Unrest continues in the region. About 300,000 people have fled fighting throughout Darfur in the first five months of this year, the U.N. has said. "The mission condemns in the strongest possible terms those responsible for this heinous attack on our peacekeepers," said Mohamed Ibn Chambas, a joint special representative of the force. "The perpetrators should be on notice that they will be pursued for this crime and gross violation of international humanitarian law." More than 100 U.N. peacekeepers were killed last year alone on duty in the Darfur and Abyei regions of Sudan, Congo, Ivory Coast and other countries. Eight more civilian contractors, such as pilots, also died on deployment with peacekeeping missions in 2012.

News from The Associated Press

See also:

200 WOUNDED IN SOUTH SUDAN TRIBAL CLASHES
Jul 15,`13 -- A United Nations official in South Sudan says 200 people have been wounded in ongoing clashes between rival tribes in the country's largest state.

Toby Lanzer, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan, issued a statement late Sunday that the most critically wounded were now being treated in the capital of Jonglei state, where there is a rebel insurgency against the central government.

South Sudan's army spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, said the Murle and Lou Nuer tribes constantly clash over cattle thefts, conflicts that date back to the colonial era.

Lanzer's statement said violence in Pibor County in Jonglei caused thousands to flee into the bush. Sudan, which celebrated its second independence anniversary last week, has been plagued by a border conflict with neighboring Sudan as well as tribal violence.

News from The Associated Press