---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 2:25 PM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] South Sudan to forcibly disarm civilians To: Group <[email protected]>
In view of the two stories below, it might be worth quoting a couple of pieces from the Sudan Council of Churches statement on the situation in Jonglei State which I circulated earlier today: "Urgent appeal to the Governments of South Sudan and Jonglei State: To handle disarmament issues sensitively and comprehensively, in a manner and at a time which will promote peace rather than exacerbate conflict, and provide adequate security for those communities which are disarmed." "The conflict has moved far beyond cattle-raiding, abductions and revenge. The Lou Nuer expressed a deep-rooted hatred of the Murle. Brutal actions were carried out against non-combatants. Ethnic hatred was expressed verbally, in graffiti left by the attackers, and on the internet, and this could be the precursor to larger-scale atrocities. This dynamic has been growing for some time and is very worrying. It lends a sense of urgency to peace efforts. Extremely young children are being 'initiated' into the hatred and killing, ensuring that it will continue into the next generation." John BEGIN 1. Ethnic clashes: South Sudan to forcibly disarm civilians By Machel Amos Daily Monitor (Uganda) Posted Friday, January 20 2012 at 00:00 South Sudan said on Thursday it will use force to get disarm civilians despite fears that the move could trigger more bloodshed. Previous voluntary disarmament exercises have been resisted and communities that responded to the call later rearmed to protect themselves from their armed neighbours. “They are killing themselves with these guns. So we will force those who don’t want to surrender the guns to do so,” SPLA spokesman Col. Philip Aguer said on Thursday. “We expect little resistance because they know that these guns are taking their lives. We will collect the guns from all the communities and guarantee their protection,” he added. This comes in the wake of bloody clashes between rival groups in Jonglei state, where thousands have been killed in series of ethnic raiding and counter-raiding this year. According to Jonglei state governor Kuol Manyang Juuk, the exercise takes as priority the warring Murle, Lou-Nuer communities and Dinka Bor. “Without taking these guns by involving force where possible, we cannot realise peace in this state,” Manyang said. He said the disarmaments done in 2009 provided the conducive atmosphere for 2010 general elections and the referendum last year. “The rebels have armed them and we should decide between owning arms to fight each other and peace,” Manyang said, adding that the exercise begins at the end of the month in Pibor, home of the marauding Murle youths accused of killing and abducting children and women from their neighbours. However, previous forced disarmament exercises were bloody and human rights groups criticised the process, saying the ensuing fighting was abusing human rights than it could solve. Deng Dau Deng, the chairman for the War Disabled Commission, said the exercise, even if conducted by force, would save lives of innocent children and women. “We better save the children than the criminals who would want to fight the government,” he said. Since independence in July, South Sudan has witnessed waves of violence worsened by the presence of arms in the hands of civilians. http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/World/-/688340/1310542/-/120r6gh/-/ END1 2. Jonglei: Death toll in Duk attack rises to 80 as UN warns of hate messages January 19, 2012 (JUBA) – The death toll resulting from the Monday attack on Duk county of Dinka community by the Murle ethnic group in Jonglei state has risen to over 80 people confirmed dead and many more still missing as United Nations warns of hate statements. On Monday the Murle armed youth attacked Duk Padiet, a payam headquarters, briefly capturing it killing 47 people and burning the town before they were expelled. However, a member of parliament, Abiel Chan, who visited the affected area on Thursday, said the number confirmed dead had increased to 83 with 48 men, 26 women and 9 children killed, while many more were still missing. He also said thousands of residents were still displaced. Meanwhile the Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Hilde F. Johnson has called upon local and national leaders to halt the use of hate language that continues to escalate tribal clashes in Jonglei State. Johnson in a press conference in Juba on Thursday condemned these hate are urged the South Sudanese authorities to bring those responsible for the violence to "the full force of the law". "We are deeply concerned about the hate messages that have been made by some individuals and groups. The statements could incite systematic ethnic violence. (..) Such statements are in violation of both international law and South Sudan’s domestic law. Any statements that could incite ethnically based violence are totally unacceptable. The United Nation condemns them in the strongest terms." The UN official regretted that " the chain of retaliatory violence continues unbroken", alluding to the recent attacks on Lou Nuer and Dinka Duk in the vast state by the Murle. Speaking about the UNMISS role in the protection of civilians, the Hilde said the Mission has deployed around half of its "combat-ready personnel" to the heavily populated areas in Jonglei like Pibor and Likuongole where civilians were under greatest threat. The UN official said the early warning system implemented by the UNMISS allowed to save thousands of Mule during last December attacks by the Lou Nuer who moved in thousands to Pibor. However she admitted the UN failure to implement this system on the recent assaults by the Murle. "It’s a very different way of operating than the attacks we have are now seeing in the Lou Nuer and the Dinka areas. The attacks are in smaller groups, speedy, unpredictable, follows no particular pattern." "And as I mentioned, if we were to predict those we would be doing miracles because we can not predict exactly which village they would attack." South Sudan’s government says it prepares for deployment of more troops to create buffer zones separating the three communities of Lou-Nuer, Dinka and Murle in order to deter retaliatory attacks among the rival tribes. The UN SRSG also urged the government to deploy more of its organized forces in the troubled Jonglei region, and strongly warned sections of the media, leaders and public to desist from jumping into conclusion on unverified figures of casualties in the aftermath of the conflict. The government, Johnson said, should conduct an investigation into the perpetrators of this cycle of violence, and that those found guilty should be held accountable. “The cycle of violence in Jonglei has caused huge suffering to all the people in the area. It has to end,” she said, further reiterating UNMISS concerns on the deterioration of the humanitarian situations of the people. The UN humanitarian community, Johnson said, has launched one of the most complex and expensive emergency operations in South Sudan since the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), meant to assist 60,000 people among the 90,000 affected people in the area. Lise Grande, the deputy SRSG, is due to address the media this Friday to present more details on the current humanitarian situation in Jonglei and other parts of the South Sudan. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/Jonglei-Death-toll-in-Duk-attack,41347 END2 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan, South Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. 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