South Sudan Peace Talks Stall, U.N. Warns Of Genocide
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After a United Nations report accused rebel groups of massacring civilians, peace talks stalled on Tuesday in South Sudan. A U.N. official has been quoted in saying that she saw “piles and piles” of bodies, many of them in mosques, churches, and hospitals, where people have sought refuge from the violence.
Doctors Without Borders in South Sudan (Image via @MSF_uk)
SEE ALSO: South Sudan: Ceasefire Agreed Between Government, Rebels
A ceasefire was signed on January 23 between President Salva Kiir and the rebel groups that claim allegiance to former vice president Riek Machar, but was never put into place. The ethnic turmoil that has threatened stability and killed thousands since December was exacerbated this week when rebels seized the oil town of Bentiu. Rebels, backing Machar and the ethnic Nuers, have claimed that the allegations are baseless, “cheap propaganda,” and that the U.N. has sided with Kiir’s Dinka people. The East African IGAD, the party responsible for brokering the peace talks, have postponed the next session until April 28, 2014.
SEE ALSO: South Sudan: Peace Talks Begin As U.S. Evacuates Personnel
Last week, 58 people were killed in an attack on a U.N. peacekeeping base in South Sudan. U.N. officials have warned about a possible genocide, as local radio stations have begun to broadcast hate messaging, a foreboding situation reminiscent of the Rwandan genocide, which just marked its 20th anniversary in April. The U.N. warnings of genocide in South Sudan, not to be confused with U.N. warnings of genocide last month in the Central African Republic on the completely unrelated conflict, say that the violence may escalate even further in the coming weeks.
SEE ALSO: UN: Warnings of Genocide in Central African Republic
More than 1 million people have fled their homes since December. The peacekeeping base in Bentiu currently holds 25,000 and is over capacity. Refugees receive only one liter of water per person per day, and only one latrine per 350 people.
Read more at the BBC, Globe and Mail, and Reuters, and follow the crisis through Doctors Without Borders UK.
Reach Executive Producer Sarah Geisler here. Follow her on Twitter.
