Nearly 170 killed in attack in South Sudans Ruweng region

At least 169 people have been killed in a recent attack on Abiemnhom County in South Sudan’s Ruweng Administrative Area. According to local officials, the violence began when a group of unidentified youths from Mayom County in Unity state stormed the area on Sunday. The majority of those killed were civilians, including children, women, and elderly individuals, with 90 reported fatalities. Government soldiers also suffered casualties, with 79 reported deaths.

Fifty people sustained injuries during the attack, which lasted for three to four hours before government forces drove the attackers out of the area. The bodies of all 169 victims have been buried in a mass grave, according to health minister Elizabeth Achol. Local authorities have taken control of the area and condemned the violence as “barbaric”.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) expressed alarm over the recent surge in violence, stating that 23 people were injured in an attack on the same day. The UN has been providing emergency medical care to those injured and sheltering over 1,000 civilians within its base.

Separately, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported that 26 of its staff members are missing following recent violence in Jonglei state. MSF stated that it had lost contact with the missing staff due to ongoing insecurity and has suspended medical services in Lankien and Pieri, both in Jonglei. The NGO also reported that several staff members were forced to flee the area alongside their families and are now displaced.

The attack on Abiemnhom County is part of a broader surge in violence in South Sudan since the arrest of former First Vice President Riek Machar last year. A peace agreement signed by President Salva Kiir in 2018 aimed to end five years of civil war, but its implementation has been slow and contentious.

Source: Al Jazeera