UN Says 100 Killed in Clashes Involving South Sudanese Army

(Bloomberg) -- South Sudan regional clashes involving rebels who oppose a 2018 peace deal and government forces have left at least 100 civilians dead, the United Nations said.

The same number of women and girls were raped or suffered other forms of sexual abuse since September, when President Salva Kiir and main rebel leader Riek Machar agreed to stop fighting, the UN Mission in South Sudan said Wednesday in a report. It documented 30 attacks on villages in the Central Equatoria region that forced 76,000 people to flee their homes, with some leaving the country.

The peace agreement, whose implementation was delayed to November, seeks to end five years of fighting that claimed more than 400,000 lives and almost halved the nation's daily oil-production capacity of 350,000 barrels. Some rebel groups based in the Central Equatoria region rejected the deal, saying it doesn't address the personal and ethnic rivalries that caused the war.

While the accord, that creates an expanded government to include rebels, has led to “a significant decrease in conflict-related violations and abuses across the country,” according to the UN, “Central Equatoria has been an exception to this trend particularly in areas surrounding Yei where the attacks against civilians have continued.”

READ: Renegade General Shows the Perils in South Sudan Peace Plans

Soon after signing the September agreement, clashes broke out among those not party to the deal, the government forces and Machar's group over territorial control in the region, according to the UN. Months later, the government conducted operations against the rebels and a campaign against civilians perceived to be supporting them, the UN said.

The report is “unfounded,” Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth said Wednesday. “It is written by those who want to live on the blood of South Sudanese. The situation is normal in Yei,” a city in Central Equatoria, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Okech Francis in Juba at fokech@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Rene Vollgraaff

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