southsudan0814_ForUpload
southsudan0814_ForUpload
southsudan0814_ForUpload
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Summary<br />
‘The leaders of the SPLA factions must address their own human rights<br />
problems and correct their own abuses or risk a continuation of the war on<br />
tribal or political grounds in the future, even if they win autonomy or<br />
separation.’<br />
–Human Rights Watch 1994 report ‘Civilian Destruction’<br />
The first months of South Sudan’s new war were distinguished less by fierce battles<br />
between fighting forces than by horrific attacks on civilians often because of their ethnicity<br />
and presumed allegiances. In many cases fighting forces have retreated at the threat of<br />
attack by the other side, leaving civilians behind to bear the brunt.<br />
Government and SPLA/M-in Opposition (the opposition) forces have, together with allied<br />
forces, since December 2013 committed extraordinary acts of cruelty that amount to war<br />
crimes and in some cases potential crimes against humanity. These forces have pillaged<br />
and destroyed civilian property including homes, humanitarian infrastructure like the cars<br />
and offices of aid agencies, and medical facilities, including key hospitals. Both sides<br />
have ruthlessly targeted places of refuge, including churches, hospitals, and UN bases.<br />
This report documents abuses South Sudanese have endured since December 2013,<br />
demonstrating how targeted killings of civilians and mass pillage and destruction of<br />
civilian property lie at the heart of how parties to this conflict are fighting this war. The<br />
report is based on hundreds of interviews with victims of human rights abuses and<br />
witnesses, primarily in the towns of Juba, Bor, Bentiu, and Malakal. However, the abuses<br />
documented in this report represent only some of the horrors the people of South Sudan<br />
have witnessed since December 2013.<br />
South Sudan’s death toll in this new war is unknown but thousands of civilians have been<br />
killed, homes and markets burned, and bodies left to be eaten by birds and dogs. Towns<br />
and large rural areas in Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity states have emptied, with an<br />
estimated 1.5 million people fleeing their homes, afraid that they will be targeted and<br />
killed. The mass displacement, looting and destruction caused by the warring parties have<br />
1 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | AUGUST 2014