S. SUDAN OPPOSITION LEADER REJECTS MASSACRE CLAIMS
Bentiu, Sudan Selatan, 22 Jumadil Akhir 1435/22 April 2014 (MINA) – South Sudan’s opoosition commander Riek Machar has said his forces were not behind the massacre of hundreds of people in the contested town of Bentiu.
The United Nations has accused them of killing more than 200 people in one mosque alone when they re-captured the town last week after a battle with government forces.
Former Vice President Machar, who was dismissed from office by President Salva Kiir in July 2013, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that his rebels would not kill their own people.
“I contacted the field military commander in Bentiu who told me that such accusation is false. First of all we respect our people, and the majority of the forces are from the region and we can’t kill our citizens,” Machar said.
Thousands of people in South Sudan have been killed in violence and more than one million people have been forced to leave their homes since December when troops loyal to President Kiir and those loyal to Machar began to fight along ethnic lines.
Machar was accused by Kiir of a failed coup d’état in December. Though Machar denied being involved he praised the opposition movement that he is leading.
South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that he believed Machar’s rebels were indeed responsible for the killings in Bentui.
“It is his responsibility because these are his rebels,” Benjamin said, Al Jazeera quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
The United Nations condemned what it called the “targeted killings” and wounding of hundreds of civilians based on their ethnic origins in Bentiu.
The UN’s mission in South Sudan said on Monday hundreds of civilians were killed or wounded after rebel forces took control of the capital of the oil-producing Unity state last week.
Toby Lanzer, the UN’s top humanitarian official in South Sudan, said in Twitter posts late on Sunday that there were shocking scenes of atrocities, with “bodies of people executed” lying in Bentiu’s streets.
“We had 5,000 civilians a week ago in our base, now we have 22,000 people. We have just one litre of portable water per person for today… It is hard to believe that just a few months ago South Sudan was at peace,” Lanzer said.
“People are on the brink of disaster. It is imperative the leaders recognise the crisis into which they have plunged their nation.” (T/P09/E01).
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).
