A two-year-old boy was shot in the arms of his neighbour. A woman was dragged into the streets and raped. Others were killed in their homes trying to protect their properties from looters. Eyewitnesses seeking refuge at the compound of the Catholic cathedral in Wau, in north-west South Sudan , have described horrendous acts of violence after heavy fighting erupted in the town on 24 June. They recounted how soldiers from the army the SPLA and young people from the Dinka ethnic group attacked neighbourhoods inhabited by ethnic Fartit.
According to the UN, more than 70, people have been displaced and dozens reportedly killed in what is likely to be the worst violence South Sudan has seen this year. The violence in Wau comes two months after President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and rebel leader Riek Machar, a Nuer, formed a new power-sharing transitional government. The deal, which divided up control of the presidency, the cabinet and the 10 states, is regarded by some as merely settling the scores between the two men and their loyalists, while failing to address the root causes of violence or to safeguard the rights of dozens of other ethnic groups.
Thousands of young Dinka from a neighbouring region are said to have recently migrated to the town in what locals see as a government-backed campaign to increase Dinka control over land and resources in areas traditionally inhabited by other groups. The ethnic divide in Wau is obvious. Pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns and full of soldiers toting AKs, mostly Dinka, patrolled the area. In contrast, the southern and western parts of town, home to the Fartit, were deserted after people flocked to churches and the UN base for protection.
In the adjacent region of Western Equatoria, young men from the Zande ethnic group rose up last year when Dinka cattle herders, protected by the SPLA, were blamed for occupying local farmland. The latter accused the government of annexing parts of their ancestral land.
In both Malakal and Western Equatoria, the government blamed opposition forces for inciting violence. The UN estimates that around 35, people, many of them young men, have fled to the bush, while the same number have been displaced within the town. Aid agencies have started providing humanitarian assistance to the displaced. We want peace and stability. Facebook Twitter Pinterest.
