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aftermath of the attack, around 30 civilian bodies were found on the road between the
UNMISS base and Bentiu. 149
Other civilians fled to swampy areas where government soldiers shot at them in their
hiding places, according to witnesses. 150 “I saw three people shot … in the head and chest.
On the second day of hiding they decided to walk out and then they were shot,” said one
man, a tailor, who hid among reeds for three days without food or water. Another man who
hid nearby in a river said soldiers burned the rushes to better see those hiding. 151 “If you
got out you would be killed, if the grass (rushes) moved they shot at you,” he said. He saw
soldiers shoot one boy as he fled and later saw the bodies of two children and a woman
shot in the river.
A young man, around 18 years old, described being shot in his left thigh by government
soldiers as he ran. 152 An old man with a bullet wound, interviewed by Human Rights Watch
in the UNMISS camp also said he had been shot by government soldiers during the
attack. 153 A cattle herder said he saw SPLA and JEM soldiers moving through Kalibalik
market in Bentiu shooting at and chasing civilians. While searching for his children after
the initial attack, he saw eight bodies in two of many burned houses. A government worker
said his 19-year-old nephew was killed on January 10 during the government attack and his
body left in the Kalibalik neighborhood of Bentiu.
Many witnesses told Human Rights Watch they had seen or heard of bodies left in various
neighborhoods in Bentiu following the recapture of the town. 154
149 Human Rights Watch interviews with UN officials, aid workers, (names withheld), January 2014. UN human rights officers
reported that 31 individuals were killed while fleeing to the UN base and reported seeing SPLA soldiers stopping a car on the
way to the UN base and then shooting at the passengers as they tried to flee.
150 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld), Bentiu, February 3, 2014.
151 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld), Bentiu, January 30, 2014.
152 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld), Bentiu, February 3, 2014.
153 The man was one of 15 civilians with gunshot wounds who sought medical treatment from doctors in the UNMISS base
following the government attack. Four soldiers from the JEM group (unarmed and in civilian clothes) were also treated.
154 Government medical staff conducting a vaccination campaign and who moved in the town shortly after the government
attack also reported seeing dead civilians, presumably killed during the attack. In end-January Human Rights Watch was
shown ammunition shells in Bentiu hospital suggesting the site may have been used as a location to fight.
61 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | AUGUST 2014