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January 19, 2012 (JUBA) – The death toll resulting from the Monday attack on Duk county of Dinka community by the Murle ethnic group in Jonglei state has risen to over 80 people confirmed dead and many more still missing as United Nations warns of hate statements.
On Monday the Murle armed youth attacked Duk Padiet, a payam headquarters, briefly capturing it killing 47 people and burning the town before they were expelled.
However, a member of parliament, Abiel Chan, who visited the affected area on Thursday, said the number confirmed dead had increased to 83 with 48 men, 26 women and 9 children killed, while many more were still missing.
He also said thousands of residents were still displaced.
Meanwhile the Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Hilde F. Johnson has called upon local and national leaders to halt the use of hate language that continues to escalate tribal clashes in Jonglei State.
Johnson in a press conference in Juba on Thursday condemned these hate are urged the South Sudanese authorities to bring those responsible for the violence to "the full force of the law".
"We are deeply concerned about the hate messages that have been made by some individuals and groups. The statements could incite systematic ethnic violence. (..) Such statements are in violation of both international law and South Sudan’s domestic law. Any statements that could incite ethnically based violence are totally unacceptable. The United Nation condemns them in the strongest terms."
The UN official regretted that " the chain of retaliatory violence continues unbroken", alluding to the recent attacks on Lou Nuer and Dinka Duk in the vast state by the Murle.
Speaking about the UNMISS role in the protection of civilians, the Hilde said the Mission has deployed around half of its "combat-ready personnel" to the heavily populated areas in Jonglei like Pibor and Likuongole where civilians were under greatest threat.
The UN official said the early warning system implemented by the UNMISS allowed to save thousands of Mule during last December attacks by the Lou Nuer who moved in thousands to Pibor.
However she admitted the UN failure to implement this system on the recent assaults by the Murle. "It’s a very different way of operating than the attacks we have are now seeing in the Lou Nuer and the Dinka areas. The attacks are in smaller groups, speedy, unpredictable, follows no particular pattern."
"And as I mentioned, if we were to predict those we would be doing miracles because we can not predict exactly which village they would attack."
South Sudan’s government says it prepares for deployment of more troops to create buffer zones separating the three communities of Lou-Nuer, Dinka and Murle in order to deter retaliatory attacks among the rival tribes.
The UN SRSG also urged the government to deploy more of its organized forces in the troubled Jonglei region, and strongly warned sections of the media, leaders and public to desist from jumping into conclusion on unverified figures of casualties in the aftermath of the conflict.
The government, Johnson said, should conduct an investigation into the perpetrators of this cycle of violence, and that those found guilty should be held accountable.
“The cycle of violence in Jonglei has caused huge suffering to all the people in the area. It has to end,” she said, further reiterating UNMISS concerns on the deterioration of the humanitarian situations of the people.
The UN humanitarian community, Johnson said, has launched one of the most complex and expensive emergency operations in South Sudan since the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), meant to assist 60,000 people among the 90,000 affected people in the area.
Lise Grande, the deputy SRSG, is due to address the media this Friday to present more details on the current humanitarian situation in Jonglei and other parts of the South Sudan.
(ST)
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