One Person Killed, Six Injured In Malakal UNMISS Camp Shooting

 

By Ariik Atekdit and Daniel Angok and Jok P. Mayom

JUBA, 2 July 2015 [Gurtong] – An internally displaced person who identified himself as Deng said on phone from Malakal’s UNMISS Camp that a Dinka was attacked by gunmen who are believed to be soldiers of the SPLA in opposition and Agwelek forces of renegade SPLA general, Mr.  Johnson Olony.

“Some four attackers walked into the site of the Dinka’s POC and opened fire on them. They killed one person instantly and 10 people were wounded and now under treatment in the UN clinic. These four men came while wearing civil clothing. Our site is not well-protected and for the reason they carried out the assault and left untouched,” Deng said.

Deng said that an elderly woman was badly injured and her condition was the worst among the victims.

Deng blamed UNMISS for not providing equal protection to the IDPs especially when it is the rebel forces controlling the town.

“When it is the opposition forces controlling the town UNMISS seems to be reluctant in providing security to the people. Our people have reported to the UN authority several times that our fence need to be worked on and that some UN peace keepers should be deployed there so that they can stop any external aggression but for quite a long time now, nothing has happened until today,” he said.

Another IDP also added, “We are suspicious that it is our fellow IDPs who from the other ethnic community that are telling their forces to come and attack our site. They are being directed from within just to target us and that is why we were attacked and killed innocently.”

Meanwhile, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan has condemned the fatal shooting of the internally displaced person (IDP) inside the Mission’s protection-of-civilians site at its compound outside Malakal.

The Mission said that it had received information that three members of the forces belonging to either the Sudan People’s Liberation Army In Opposition or the allied militia led by Gen. Johnson Olony who are currently controlling the Upper Nile state capital opened fire on IDPs.

“One civilian was killed and another six IDPs were wounded. The wounded are currently receiving treatment at the hospital inside the UNMISS compound, and one is said to be in a critical condition.”

“The exact circumstances’ surrounding the shooting incident remains unclear. But any attack on a protection-of-civilians site constitutes a direct assault against the United Nations and may constitute a war crime” said UNMISS.

UNMISS peacekeepers returned fire against the assailants, and UNMISS peacekeepers are currently engaging with senior commanders of armed opposition forces in a bid to identify the perpetrators of this unprovoked attack among their own ranks.

The UN mission also refuted an opinion column appearing in the 30 June and 1 July editions of
the Citizen newspaper alleging that armed opposition forces have been firing this week on internally displaced persons (IDPs) staying at the Mission’s protection-of-civilians (PoC) site in Malakal. 

There is absolutely no truth to the claims of the columnist William Sunday D Tor that opposition forces loyal to the former Vice President, Riek Machar and the former Sudan People’s Liberation Army general Johnson Olony have been “shooting at the civilians indiscriminately in UNMISS camp” who are from “other ethnic groups.” 

“UNMISS peacekeepers have strengthened security measures in and around the Malakal PoC site in the wake of heavy fighting that occurred in the Upper Nile state capital last weekend. These measures belie the Citizen columnist’s unsubstantiated assertion that IDPs at the Malakal have been left to the mercy of opposition forces because “nothing is done by UNMISS police.”

This is not the first time that a UNMISS protection-of-civilians site has come under attack by armed elements in South Sudan, and such indefensible actions will compromise the Mission’s ability to implement its mandate if they continue to go unpunished.