A South Sudan opposition lawmaker on Sunday accused President Salva Kiir’s authorities of orchestrating a possible “genocide” in opposition to the Nuer group, loyal to rival Riek Machar, by labeling their homelands as “hostile.”
Months of violent clashes between Kiir’s forces and people loyal to Machar, who was arrested in March, have raised fears of a return to civil conflict on the earth’s youngest nation.
Kiir’s allies have blamed Machar’s forces for threatening the peace deal by stoking unrest in Nasir County, Upper Nile State, alongside the White Army, a militia of armed ethnic Nuer youths within the area.
“The Nuer ethnic group, one of the largest in South Sudan, played a significant role in the liberation struggle,” learn a authorities assertion.
“The community spans 16 counties… of which nine are considered hostile,” which means aligned with Machar’s celebration, the assertion added.
Nasir County was amongst these thought-about hostile.
That designation was “reckless and malicious,” stated Reath Muoch Tang, a deputy and high official in Machar’s celebration who’s Nuer himself.
“This dangerous labeling… this sinister plan constitutes nothing short of a map for genocide against the Nuer community,” Tang stated in a press release revealed on Facebook.
“It is a deliberate and calculated attempt to justify collective punishment, instigate violence, and destroy an entire society under the false cover of security measures.”
In a press release, Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, appearing chairman of Machar’s celebration, cited a 2014 African Union report that discovered that “male Nuers were targeted, identified, killed on the spot or gathered in one place and killed” at roadblocks, checkpoints, and house-to-house searches.
“We warn and strongly condemn this perpetuation of state policy and of ethnic and tribal profiling, targeting, and cleansing,” stated Pierino.
He stated the celebration was taking steps towards submitting fees of crimes in opposition to humanity and genocide, amongst different offenses, on the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Fragile power-sharing deal
Clashes round Nasir contributed to the unraveling of Kiir and Machar’s fragile 2018 power-sharing settlement, which had ended a civil conflict that killed round 400,000 individuals.
Some 6,000 White Army fighters are estimated to have stormed a army camp in Nasir in early March, with a top-ranking basic among the many victims.
The authorities stated the assault killed 400 members of the armed forces and has stated it has since retaken town, in addition to Ulang, almost every week in the past, with the help of Ugandan forces.
Since March, the violence has led to the deaths of a minimum of 200 individuals throughout a number of South Sudan states and displaced round 125,000 others, based on the United Nations.
South Sudan has been suffering from instability since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011.
Between 2013 and 2018, the preventing pitted the supporters of Machar in opposition to these of Kiir, who’s from the Dinka ethnic group.
The Dinka and Nuer communities are the 2 largest teams in ethnically numerous South Sudan.
The president has moved to sideline Machar, who was positioned beneath home arrest.
On Saturday, the South Sudanese authorities additionally mentioned a “plan of action” to revive the peace settlement.
It recommended that it might select which of the divided opposition factions is professional, doubtlessly paving the best way for Machar’s ousting, based on South Sudanese media.
Pierino, Machar’s ally, warned that “any attempt to change the structure” of the transitional authorities, “or replace the appointments therein… shall be rejected and resisted by all means at our disposal.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com