UN Report: Over 900 Killed in South Sudan Cattle Feud

Juba, South Sudan

Over 900 people have died this year in a wave of proxy attacks between two cattle rearing communities in South Sudan, that have also seen incidents of abductions of women and children, the destruction of homes and the displacement of thousands of civilians, UN report says.

Members from the Lou Nuer and rival Murle ethnic groups in South Sudan’s Jonglei state have been embroiled in retaliatory attacks against each other in violence associated with cattle rustling that has led to widespread killings and abductions.

The UN report released on Monday was compiled by the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) with support from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) gives accounts of crimes and human rights violations that took place during the cycle of attacks between the two varying communities.

In late December over 8000 armed youths from the Lou Nuer community calling themselves “The White Army” overran  Pibor County in remote Jonglei state massacring members of the rival Murle group, abducting women and children and razing villages.

The report says the “UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) recorded 612 fatalities in the course of the attacks,” conducted between 23 December and 4 January. The region’s authority reported that 3000 Murle members, who were fleeing for safety, had been slain, but the UN refutes the figure saying it was announced too hastily.

The Killings sparked a spate of retaliatory attacks by the Murle in areas belonging to the Lou Nuer and others belonging to the Bor Dinka between December 27 and February 4. According to the report the retaliatory attacks resulted in 276 deaths.

The report criticises the Juba government for failing to protect civilians from violence, conducting investigations and holding those accountable, which have contributed to the cycle of the attacks. It urges the government “as a matter of urgency” to activate the committee formed in March to investigate the killings and prosecute perpetrators of the atrocities.

"It is vital that the facts are known, and that the perpetrators and instigators on all sides are held to account," said the UN High Commissioner for Human Right, Navi Pillay, who had met with some victims and witnesses of the violence while on visit to Jonglei state in May.

UNMISS says it deployed troops alongside units of government forces, which has helped save many lives in the region, though it identifies certain delays in deployment of government forces that had prevented adequate protection of civilians.

The newly independent South Sudan continues to face internal clashes mainly between communities, owing to high proliferation of arms from the north-south civil war that ended in 2005 with signing of peace deal, paving way for its independence last year.

Kampala, Uganda

Many Feared Dead in Uganda Mudslide

Many people are feared dead after a mudslide struck in a mountainous region of Eastern Uganda following recent heavy rain in the region.

The mudslide rocked three villages in Bududa District on the foot of Mount Elgon near the border with Kenya where at least 300 people are said to be living in the affected villages. The Ugandan Red Cross which is in the area to assess the damage say 18 bodies have been extracted so far from the area, but the toll is expected to rise as rescue operations continue.

Uganda Red Cross Secretary General Michael Richard Nataka said 15 homes had been buried in one village alone, while another 29 were at risk. Mr Nataka said that nine of the survivors had been taken to hospital. At least 72 people who had been at the nearby market rather than in their homes are said to have survived the disaster.

Area Member of Parliament David Wakikona says that many villagers who had been in their homes are feared to be buried alive, when mounds of earth and large rocks hurtled downhill toward villages.

"We don't yet understand how this all happened, but it's terrible," Mr Wakikona said.

This is the second time in recent past landslide has struck the same area, which is said to be prone to landslide, partly due to deforestation. In March 2010 more than 350 people were killed in a similar landslide in the same region, while thousands others displaced.

According to geologists the area is said to be too steep for human habitation and cultivation and the region’s 300 households estimated to accommodate about 21,000 people are every time at high risk of a possible mudslide whenever torrential rains persist.

Rise in population around the slopes of Mt. Elgon have led to encroachment on the forest reserve land for cultivation thus rendering the region more vulnerable.