NAIROBI, Kenya – At least 81 people were killed and dozens more injured in South Sudan over the weekend during an operation to seize civilian weapons, authorities and a network of civil society organizations said in a statement. Tuesday.
The clashes showed how the youngest nation of the world has continued to be plagued by deadly violence as it seeks to emerge from a criminal civil war.
The attempt to disarm communities in South Sudan is an attempt by the authorities to tackle insecurity and break down repeated attacks in a country along ethnic lines. But aid groups had warned that the “top-down” approach, instituted by a government with a suspicion seen by many in the country, could likely fuel clashes.
The warnings prove precise. About 55 members of the security forces and 26 civilians were killed in separate attacks that took place in Tonj East province in the north-central state of Warrap, said Major General Lul Ruai Koang, a spokesman for the South Sudanese army. ,.
Without giving further details, General Koang said the clashes were being carried out by a civilian ‘opposition to disciplinary action’ taken against security forces in the area against him.
But Geoffrey L. Duke, director of the South Sudan Action Network on Small Arms, a lawyer group based in the capital, Juba, said a dispute arose between soldiers and a number of civilians after a young man was arrested.
When the young man tried to escape, he was shot in the back, Mr. Duke said, and that led to an attack on the soldier’s post on Saturday night. That attack was repulsed by security forces, but on Sunday an even larger attack was mounted, he added.
General Koang confirmed the double attacks and said 27 soldiers had been wounded and taken by air to Juba for treatment.
Mr Duke put the total number of civilians and soldiers wounded at 60.
During the fighting, a market in the nearby town of Romich was looted and shops burned, while many women and children fled in fear for their lives, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan said in a statement. The New York Times.
The violence comes weeks after President Salva Kiir announced the start of a comprehensive disarmament effort. The process was criticized as “hasty” by advocacy groups, who said the government’s approach risked provoking confrontations with the security forces.
“We warned of possible clashes between disarmament forces and civilians, and this is exactly what happened,” Mr Duke said in a telephone interview, noting that some communities may be reluctant to give up their weapons for fear of being vulnerable to attack. . “Unfortunately, a large number of people lost their lives.”
The latest violence comes as South Sudan’s unity government, which was formed in February, is fighting to bring peace and stability. The Civil War began in 2013 and was mainly fought between Mr. Kiir’s Dinka ethnic group and the Nuer ethnic group of his rival, Riek Machar, who is now the first vice president. The fight cost more than 400,000 lives and displaced 4.3 million people.
In addition, at least 6.5 million people in South Sudan, or about 55 percent of the population, have serious food security issues, which are now being exacerbated by swarms of desert locusts that are destroying crops in East Africa.
Inter-municipal violence – including cattle rattling, border disputes and revenge cycles – is rampant, including in the Tonj East area where the latest clashes took place. In May and June, hundreds of people were killed in violence in another state, Jonglei.
The situation has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected at least 2,470 people and killed 47 in South Sudan. Aid agencies have said the outbreak has the potential to respond to deadly violence across the country.
The efforts of the government always seemed complicated in a country tired of weapons after the civil war. In any case, many communities, especially political ones, are able to recover quickly, said Alan Boswell, a senior analyst for South Sudan at the International Crisis Group.
“Disarmament in South Sudan seems like an offensive counter-insurgency operation, and not an orderly weapons collection, which the local militias are often reluctant to give up,” Mr Boswell said. Because the government in many parts of the country does not lack much “political legitimacy as authority,” he added, it is “dependent on violence that the crisis often worsens.”
On Tuesday, General Koang said calm had been restored in Tonj East, with local chiefs and lawmakers helping to stabilize the situation. Two soldiers involved in the initial clashes were arrested for further investigation, he said. The military has also called on local leaders to identify and help those who started the attacks.
Despite “this temporary commitment,” General Koang added, “disarmament will continue.”
