UN TO PROBE REPORTS OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN S SUDAN

        Khartoum, 21 Shafar 1435/ 25 December 2013 (MINA) – The United Nations says it will investigate reports of crimes against humanity in South Sudan amid growing reports of a wave of brutal ethnic killings in the country.

       “The United Nations will investigate reports of grave human rights violations and crimes against humanity,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters on Tuesday.

        “Those responsible at the senior level will be held personally accountable and face the consequences even if they claim they had no knowledge of the attacks,” he warned, Press Tv quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) Tuesday (24/12).

         Ban also asked the Security Council to nearly double the size of the UN mission in South Sudan, which has been hit by more than a week of deadly clashes between government troops and forces loyal to former vice president, Riek Machar.

         Official estimates say some 500 people have lost their lives in the conflict, but independent sources believe the death toll to be higher.

         Hundreds of thousands of people have fled to the countryside, prompting warnings of an imminent humanitarian disaster.

         The UN on Tuesday said fighting has spread to half of the young nation’s 10 states.

          President Salva Kiir blames the outbreak of violence on Machar, who is also accused of attempting a coup. This is while Machar says the president has exploited tensions within the army to carry out a purge.

          Rebels loyal to Machar have since seized several areas in north of the capital, Juba.

         On Thursday, Human Rights Watch accused South Sudanese soldiers and rebels of carrying out ethnic killings, detailing multiple cases where civilians were killed only based on their tribe.

         The unrest in South Sudan has reportedly pitted the Dinka tribe, to which the president belongs, against Machar’s Nuer tribe. (T/P012/E1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)