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Killings of Dinka in Unity State by Armed Nuer in Late December 2013
Dinka soldiers, including those who were disarmed and so no longer a legitimate military
target under the laws of war, were allegedly targeted and killed by Nuer soldiers during a
complex series of skirmishes between pro and anti-government forces in and around
barracks in Unity state. 137 On the evening of December 19, fighting erupted between
Koang’s defecting troops and government loyalists in the tank unit in the Rubkona Division
4 HQ. 138 Nuer soldiers then went to the house of one of the tank unit soldiers, and shot and
killed two wives and three young children of one of the tank drivers. 139 Two of his other
children were also shot and injured.
Armed Nuer civilians and members of security forces targeted Dinka civilians in Unity state,
during the first week of the crisis. Several sources told Human Rights Watch that around 40
Dinka villagers were killed in the village of Lele in Pariang County, near the beginning of
the conflict, including one soldier who arrived on the scene soon after the alleged killings
by Nuer soldiers. 140 Two Dinka staff at a base owned by the Greater Nile Petroleum
Operating Company oil consortium described to Human Rights Watch how Nuer day
laborers turned on Dinka staff and killed at least six men using batons and machetes on
the night of December 16. Both witnesses said Nuer police on the base saw the violence
and did not intervene. 141
Nuer soldiers killed four Dinka and one Nuer on the road between the Tharjath airport in
the oil-producing area and Bentiu town on December 17. 142 Fighting broke out in the main
137 Fighting between forces was reported to Human Rights Watch, for example in the Hofra SPLA base on December 17, 2014 and in
the Pariang base during the same time period. In several cases disarmed Dinka SPLA soldiers were attacked, including allegedly a
large number of disarmed soldiers close to Mayom town on or around December 19, 2014. In Tor Abet barracks, south of Bentiu
town, 15 disarmed Dinka were executed after being arrested and detained according to a soldier present at the scene. The killing
by a Nuer soldier was stopped by a more senior officer. For a more detailed description of incidents in SPLA barracks and civilian
areas surrounding them see UNMISS, “Conflict in South Sudan, a Human Rights Report” p41. In other places Nuer and Dinka
security forces divided and fought each other, for example in the main headquarters of the Tharjath oilfield in which at least four
policemen were killed. Five bodies of Dinka civilians killed in Unity oil field were brought to Bentiu hospital on December 19, 2013.
138 Some government SPLA officials have claimed that the government soldiers were captured and then killed by Koang
loyalists, but eyewitness who spoke to Human Rights Watch said that the men, albeit vastly outnumbered, were all killed in
“normal” battle, with the exception of an unarmed Dinka SPLA chaplain James Wek who was unarmed when killed.
139 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld), Juba, February 5, 2014.
140 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld), Juba, February 4, 2014. A soldier was able to name six members of one
family he saw killed in one place, three people and six people in two other locations in the village.
141 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld), Juba, January 5, 2014.
142 Perhaps because of the prominence of the Dinka victims, who included a lawyer and a teacher, the shootings were widely
publicized. One man traveling with them said that it appeared that the men were picked out by their ethnicity from the group and killed.
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