In News: South Sudan Humanitarian crisis: Thousands of South Sudanese displaced after raid on border town
Thousands of people in South
Sudan have fled into neighboring Uganda after government forces launched
an offensive against a border town in the southern parts of the world's
youngest country.
Women carry food in gunny bags after visiting an aid distribution center in Ngop in South Sudan's Unity State on March 10, 2017.
April 4 (Jonglei Times)-According to desperate refugees, over
3,000 South Sudanese spilled over into Uganda on Tuesday after
government troops stormed the border town of Pajok, located in the Magwi
County of the Eastern Equatoria state, in a three-pronged assault and
started shooting and slaughtering men, women and children
indiscriminately on Monday morning.
There were no immediate
reports on exact death toll and the extent of possible damage inflicted
on the town. However, Mondaa, a pastor from Pajok, said the town, which
is normally home to some 50,000 people, was “completely empty.” “If they
catch anybody, they will kill them,” he added.
“If you ran, you got shot. If you got arrested you got slaughtered,” said another survivor.
The
deadly attack by the army, known as Sudan People’s Liberation Army
(SPLA), is the latest to hit southern towns near the Ugandan border as a
three-year civil war has plagued almost the entire country.
The government forces are also blamed for torching thousands of homes in the southern region of Yei in late 2016. Government soldiers cross the Nile River on a tank near Malakal, northern South Sudan, October 16, 2016. (Photo by AFP)South
Sudan gained independence in July 2011, but descended into a bloody
civil war in December 2013, when President Salva Kiir accused his former
Vice President Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him.
The two
sides then got involved in a cycle of retaliatory killings that have
split the impoverished country along ethnic lines between the rival
communities of Dinka and Nuer, killing thousands of people.
A
peace agreement convinced Machar to return to the capital, Juba, but
fighting broke out again in July 2016 after a new wave of fighting
erupted in the African country.
Machar is currently in exile in
South Africa after fleeing the new spate of violence. Numerous
international attempts to reach a truce between the warring sides have
failed.
The persisting conflict has so far killed tens of
thousands of people, displaced millions of others from their homes,
divided much of the population along ethnic lines and crippled
agriculture. According to the United Nations, the impoverished country
is also facing famine.
To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections or
for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, send
your email to jongleitimes@gmail.com.
We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of
governments to government publications and spokespersons.
Publishers named above each report are responsible for their
own content, which Jonglei Times does not have the legal right to edit or
correct.
No comments:
Post a Comment