Ethnic violence in South Sudan (2011–present)

Ethnic violence in South Sudan (2011–present)
Part of the Sudanese nomadic conflicts

Map of South Sudan with the areas of conflict as of January 2012 in red.
Date7 January 2011 (2011-01-07)– present
(5 years, 3 months, 2 weeks and 6 days)
LocationJonglei and Upper Nile, South Sudan
Status Ongoing
Belligerents
South Sudan South Sudan
United Nations UNMISS

Nuer White Army

SSDM/A

Commanders and leaders
South Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit
South Sudan Riek Machar
South Sudan James Wani Igga
United Nations Hilde Frafjord Johnson
George Athor 
John Uliny
David Yau Yau
Gordon Koang
Strength
~3,800 SPLA soldiers
800+ federal police
~6,000 Lou Nuer tribesmen Unknown
4,241+ killed from all sides (including civilians) in 2011
900 killed in early 2012[1]

Ethnic violence in South Sudan began as part of the Sudanese nomadic conflicts, continuing since January 2011.

The fighting continued throughout the transition process for South Sudan's independent government.

More than a month following South Sudan's independence and secession from Sudan, the fighting escalated after several cattle raids took place during ongoing clashes between the Murle and Lou Nuer, at farms in South Sudan's Jonglei state, killing up to 600 people[2] and injuring up to 985, on 18 August 2011.[3] The clashes took place when members of the Murle group are said to have attacked the majority Lou Nuer, stealing nearly 40,000 cattle.[4] The death toll was originally reported to be as low as 58,[5] but the United Nations said the flow of information had been hampered by vast distances and poor logistics.[6] The UN also said that there was a possibility that as many as 200 people had been abducted.[6] By January 2012, clashes including and stemming from the August cattle raid had left more than 1,100 dead in the region, according to the UN.[7]

Fighting further intensified in late December 2011 and early January 2012 as the Nuer White Army, an armed group of Lou Nuer tribesmen, attacked Pibor and surrounding Murle villages in retaliation for the August 2011 cattle raid. The UN estimated between 20,000[8] and 50,000 were displaced as a result of the fighting.[7]

Background

Violence erupted in South Sudan following the Southern Sudanese independence referendum, 2011, which took place between 9 and 15 January. Conflict initially focused on the volatile Abyei region before spreading to neighbouring areas. By February, armed confrontations between the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and rebel forces loyal to George Athor had escalated, resulting in hundreds of deaths.[9]

Timeline of incidents

As I mentioned last time that SPLM/A has no capacity for running south Sudan affairs and instead of looking for peace and a full resolution of the conflict, SPLM declared war against our movement, deluding itself that we must be crushed within one month time, that is a big lie.

We will remain challenging the SPLM/A, and teach them a lesson that they will never forget. SPLM/A should learn from their experience when it was in the bush, if guerrillas can be crushed than SPLM/A could have been crashed.

I believe the only way to silence guns is through peace full settlement of the conflict, by addressing the root causes of the conflict and bridging the gap between the two conflicting groups. Because they are not committed and interested in bringing peace to our people, the SPLA forces on Sunday at 6.00am staged two attacks on our two bases in Alow and Patai, resulting in a number of their soldiers being killed.

They suffered heavy casualties in terms of human and weapons. 86 died and 147 were wounded and 900 weapons were captured on the SPLA side, referring to the SPLA and 90 different types of weapons were captured. On our side we lost 6 and 17 sustained injuries.

 Dok James Puok, spokesman for Athor rebels, 28 February 2011[9]

January 2011

February 2011

March 2011

In the following months, more defections occurred in the SPLA.

April 2011

We understand that on the side of (Tang's forces) 55 were killed including five of his generals ... We don't have reports of those killed from the SPLA and civilian sides but the (overall) death toll must be much higher
 Peter Lam Both, Upper Nile State Information Minister, interview with Reuters on 24 April 2011[18]

May 2011

Shortage of food among rebel forces and local tribes during the conflict leads to the outbreak of cattle raids.

June 2011

By June, at least seven "rebel militias" were still fighting with the SPLA forces. Tribal conflict in the form of cattle raids, which stemmed partly from inability to pay dowry fees in the form of cows, escalated.[24]

July 2011

August – December 2011

The 18 August 2011 attack occurred in Uror County, northern Jonglei state, and killed at least 640 people.[27] The attack was reportedly launched by Murle tribesmen after armed groups infiltrated into the Peiri and Pulchuol Districts (Payams) at about 5 a.m. The attack is believed to have been a revenge operation against the Lou Nuer tribe after an attack on the Murle the previous June in Pibor County, prior to South Sudan's independence, in which many deaths were reported and cattle stolen. The attackers burned down over 3,400 houses and the hospital ran by Médecins Sans Frontières. An initial estimate showed that 38,000 heads of cattle were stolen and 208 children were kidnapped.[27]

As fighting expanded into Upper Nile state, leaving 60 dead and 43 injured in fighting on 20 August, Juba accused its rival, the Republic of the Sudan, of supporting rebels led by George Athor, a rebel general and unsuccessful Jonglei gubernatorial candidate who was a former SPLA commander, and Gordon Koang.[28]

Fighting continued between rebels, including dissident tribesmen, and the army and its allies, for several months after the cattle raid. In early December 2011, fighting between ethnic groups claimed 40 lives in Jalle after a 5 December rebel attack on the town.[29] Later in the month, on 19 December, Athor was reportedly killed by army troops in Central Equatoria,[30] apparently while returning to South Sudan from a recruiting expedition in Rwanda,[31] in what was hailed as "good news" by South Sudanese parliamentarians.[32] Late on 24 December, SPLA troops fired on Christmas Eve churchgoers in Pigi County, a center of the uprising, leaving four dead. A spokesman for the army said it was investigating the "unfortunate" attack.[33]

On 25 December, the Nuer White Army threatened to "wipe out" the Murle altogether and attack United Nations and SPLA personnel if they interfered.[34] Around the same time, Lou Nuer youth were blamed for an attack on Murle villages near Pibor that caused an unknown number of casualties.[33]

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) deployed peacekeepers to Pibor on 30 December in an effort to avert an attack by 6,000 armed Lou Nuer youths, deputy coordinator Lisa Grande said. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UNMISS head Hilde Johnson called on Lou Nuer and Murle fighters alike to lay down their arms and allow the government of South Sudan to work with them toward a lasting solution to the crisis.[35]

At 3 pm on 31 December between 3–6,000 Lou Nuer tribesmen attacked a part of Pibor not protected by the UN peacekeepers.[8][36] Houses were reported to have been set on fire and much of the town, including the airport and main hospital, were occupied.[8] Scores of people are reported dead and 20,000 displaced.[8] The Lou Nuer were said to be pursuing members of the Murle who have fled southwards.[37] The South Sudanese government promised to send more army personnel and 2,000 police to the town to reinforce the 800 troops already there.[37][38] The healthcare charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said that it lost contact with 130 of its staff who were forced to flee into the bush due to the attack.[37] MSF said that a hospital and two outreach clinics were overrun, with some reports stating that the hospital had been set on fire.[39] Looting was said to have taken place at MSF facilities.[39]

2012

See also: Heglig Crisis

Pibor massacre

By 2 January, the majority of the Lou Nuer forces were said to have left Pibor and started to move to the southeast with a UN spokesman saying they were "almost certainly looking for cattle".[40] The UN said that it had successfully held the main part of Pibor alongside South Sudanese army troops but that a MSF clinic had been overrun.[40] The UN was advising people in the area to "disperse into the bush for their safety".[40] Estimates for the number of displaced ranged up to 50,000, and more than 30 were killed with as many as 80 left injured. The SPLA dispatched 3,000 soldiers and 800 police to support the government's garrison in Pibor.[7] On 5 January, Joshua Konyi, the commissioner of Pibor County and a Murle, estimated that 2,182 women and children and 959 men were killed, 1,293 children were abducted, and 375,186 cows were stolen.[41] The United Nations estimated a total death toll of 800 between December 2011 and February 2012 as a result of the Nuer-Murle clashes, prior to the South Sudanese government's disarmament campaign in March.[42]

2013

After a year of escalating changes in government and in the party, including the dismissal of Vice-President Riek Machar and the entire cabinet in June, fighting between Nuer and Dinka SPLA soldiers broke out in Juba on December 15. A rebellion rapidly spread around the country, with defected troops and Nuer militiamen loyal to Machar taking over Bentiu, Malakal and Bor.[43][44]

2016

Mid-February: Fighting between Shilluk and Dinka youths at a United Nations peacekeeping compound in the city of Malakal, left eighteen people dead (including two MSF workers) and 30 wounded.[45]

On 15 April, ethnic Murle gunmen launched a shooting and kidnapping raid across the Ethiopian border in Gambela Region, killing at least 208 people. At least 108 women and children from Ethiopia were kidnapped. The target of the raid appeared to have been ethnic Nuer in Ethiopia. Ethiopian forces retaliated, killing about 60 gunmen.[46][47] SPLM-IO rebel leader Riek Machar had been due to visit Gambela on 17 April and the South Sudanese capital Juba on 18 April to take the vice presidential post, but his latter visit was delayed due to rain.[48]

Genocide warnings

In 2010, Dennis Blair, then United States Director of National Intelligence, issued a warning that "over the next five years,...a new mass killing or genocide is most likely to occur in southern Sudan."[49][50] The Nuer White Army released a statement stating its intention to "wipe out the entire Murle tribe on the face of the earth as the only solution to guarantee long-term security of Nuer’s cattle"[34] and activists, including Minority Rights Group International, warn of genocide in the current Jonglei conflict.[51]

See also

References

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  2. "Hundreds dead' in South Sudan cattle raids". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  3. "600 killed in South Sudan clashes: UN". AFP. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  4. "South Sudan attacks 'leave 600 dead'". BBC. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  5. "At least 58 killed in S. Sudan tribal clashes: UN". Reuters. 21 August 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
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  7. 1 2 3 "Thousands flee South Sudan tribal conflict". Al Jazeera. 2 January 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
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