The United Nations says it is gravely concerned after a senior military leader in South Sudan urged his troops to “spare no-one” including “children, the elderly, and civilians” when they are deployed to opposition-held areas of the country.
“Inflammatory rhetoric calling for violence against civilians, including the most vulnerable, is utterly abhorrent and must stop now,” said the head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (Unmiss).
South Sudan’s deputy army chief Gen Johnson Oluny made the call as he addressed his Agwelek militia as they prepared to be sent to parts of Jonglei state.
Forces aligned to South Sudan’s suspended Vice-President Riek Machar have captured several areas in recent weeks.
He is currently on trial on charges of murder, treason and crimes against humanity, which he denies.
The military has ordered all civilians and personnel from the UN mission and all other aid agencies to evacuate three counties in Jonglei state ahead of an imminent operation against opposition forces.
Last week, the chief of the defence force ordered troops deployed in the region to ”crush the rebellion” within seven days.
Oluny can be heard addressing his troops in a video posted on Facebook saying: “spare no-one – the elderly, children, birds or leave no house standing”.
The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan (UNCHRSS) expressed “grave alarm” at the latest fighting in Jonglei state, north of the capital Juba, where witnesses have described civilians fleeing into swamps.
The UN says more than 180,000 people are believed to have been forced to flee their homes by escalating fighting.
”No senior political or military leader in Juba can claim to be unaware of the blatant public incitements to commit serious crimes in Jonglei,” the UNCHRSS said in a statement issued on Sunday night in Geneva.
“Language that calls for the killing of those who are hors de combat [no longer participating in hostilities] and civilians, including the elderly—with assertions that ‘no one should be spared’—is not only shocking, it is profoundly dangerous,” said UNCHRSS head Yasmin Sooka.
The military said all civilians living in Nyirol, Uror and Akobo counties in Jonglei were “directed to immediately evacuate for safety to government-controlled areas as soon as possible.”
All Unmiss personnel and those working for non-governmental organisations were also ordered to evacuate the three counties within 48 hours.
An Unmiss spokesperson told Reuters news agency: “Our peacekeepers in Akobo remain in place, carrying out all efforts under our mandate to help de-escalate tensions and prevent conflict.” She did not say whether UN staff also remained in the other counties.
Last week opposition forces threatened to march on Juba, signalling a major escalation of the conflict.
The situation in South Sudan is heightening “the risk of mass violence against civilians”, independent UN experts have warned.
Conflict in South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, broke out in 2013, two years after independence, when President Salva Kiir accused Machar of plotting to overthrow him.
A 2018 peace deal ended the civil war that had killed nearly 400,000 people, but it has never been properly implemented and the relationship between Kiir and Machar has become increasingly strained amid ethnic tensions and sporadic violence.
A power-sharing agreement between the two main sides is all but dead after President Salva Kiir moved against Machar, his vice-president and long-time rival Machar, who was arrested last March.
During the civil war the country was divided along ethnic lines, as the army and political elite fractured and the conflict saw ethnic violence between members of Kiir’s Dinka community and the Nuers who were seen as backing Machar.
By BBC News
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