Thursday, October 06, 2016

Peace-Keepers?


On 11 July, around 80 to 100 rebel soldiers attacked a compound in Juba where they gang-raped at least five international aid workers, physically or sexually assaulted at least a dozen others. They also executed a South Sudanese journalist –apparently because of his Nuer ethnicity.

The UN mission in South Sudan (Unmiss) gave orders for peacekeepers to intervene but none “ever tried to leave their bases”, the report said, with the Chinese and Ethiopian battalions refusing to go.


The failings in July were nothing new. In an incident in February, at  the northern town of Malakal, peacekeepers from Ethiopia, India and Rwanda stood by as government soldiers attacked and killed at least 30 civilians. The UN admitted to peacekeeper “inaction, abandonment of post and refusal to engage”, but failed to hold any commanders or troops to account.

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