UN reports 35 percent increase in people affected by South Sudan violence
Al Jazeera
New report says civilians are bearing the brunt of a surge in intercommunal conflict in pockets of South Sudan.
The number of people affected by violence in South Sudan surged by 35 percent in the last three months of 2023 due to intercommunal conflict, the United Nations has said.
The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) documented 233 incidents of violence affecting 862 people. In a report released on Monday, it said 406 people were killed, 293 were injured, 100 were abducted and 63 were subjected to conflict-related sexual violence.
There was a 35 percent increase in the number of victims reported from the previous quarter.
The report also said that intercommunal violence by community-based militias or civil defence groups accounted for 86 percent of all civilians affected.
More than half of those affected by the violence were caught up in retaliatory attacks related to the border dispute between rival factions of the Dinka ethnic group – the Twic Dinka from Warrap state – the main hot spot for conflict – and the Ngok Dinka from the oil-rich region of Abyei, with 263 killed and 186 injured, the report said.
