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officials told Human Rights Watch that many people had been killed in Baidit Payam and
Makuach Payam. 106
The fighting also resulted in widespread destruction. UN officials in Bor estimated that
perhaps up to 10 percent of the homes in Bor town were burned in December and January,
mostly, according to residents, during the second period of opposition control. The large
Bor market was burned to the ground during the second period of opposition control. Many
pharmacies and clinics in the market and other parts of the town were burned during this
period. 107 All the offices of non-governmental organizations in Bor town were looted
probably multiple times by different forces.
Attacks on Dinka by Defectors/Opposition Forces, December 19 –
December 25, 2013
At night of December 17, two Dinka men were killed in the Block 4 neighborhood Bor town
by unknown, allegedly Nuer gunmen. The murders are believed to have been in reprisal for
the killings of Nuer in Juba, news of which spread quickly across the country. The incident
sparked tensions in Bor, and prompted residents to move to the UNMISS base and to cross
the River Nile to Lakes state. 108
On December 17 and 18 soldiers loyal to Gadet defected at Panpandiar and Malual Chat
military bases, south of Bor. As security forces split along ethnic lines, shooting took place
at police bases and other security forces locations in Bor town, including the prison. 109
“You could not know where to go. People lost their lives running away in the direction of
the market. … Police, wildlife, fire brigade, prisons, fighting was within all of these,” a 35-
year-old police officer described to Human Rights Watch. 110
106 Interview Mayor Nhial Majak Nhial, Bor, April 2, 2014. The UNMISS May 2014 human rights report includes information
that during the December 18 to 22, 2013, period the opposition forces attacked at least three villages south of Bor town.
Looting and burning reportedly took place and civilians were killed. The report also documents how opposition forces also
reportedly killed civilians as they passed through Baidit payam after retreating from Bor town on December 25.
107 Government health workers told Human Rights Watch in early April that most of Bor’s 26 clinics and pharmacy-clinics
were destroyed during the second period of opposition control. Aside from those burned in the market, at least seven other
clinics were also destroyed. Other medical facilities were destroyed in the wider Bor county, apparently as opposition forces
moved through the area in Janaury. According to NGO sources two medical facilities in Palabach and Mathiang areas were
burned and a clinic in Pariak was looted and partly destroyed.
108 According to displaced people from Bor interviewed in January by Human Rights Watch at least two children were
drowned during the dangerous crossing. Boatmen charged large sums of money to carry people across.
109 Human Rights Watch interview, name withheld, Awerial, January 5, 2014.
110 Human Rights watch interview, name withheld, Awerial January 5, 2014.
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