SOUTH SUDAN: Women and children bear brunt of Jonglei violence

JUBA – Violence against women and children in communal clashes and cattle rustling is reported to be on the increase in Jonglei State in South Sudan.
In a report by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), quoting one of its officials Chris Lockyear , (MSF) operational manager ‘said, “We know that Jonglei has a history of being a violent state, but primarily we are seeing an increase in women and children being caught up in it.”

The new report, South Sudan’s Hidden Crisis, is based on medical data from the organization’s six health centres in Jonglei and over 100 testimonies from patients and staff taken between January and September.

One patient, a 55-year-old woman, told MSF: “On the day of the attack… they set [huts] on fire and threw children in the fire. I collected the children to run away but, because I am old, I cannot run fast and they killed the children… If the child can run, they will shoot them with the gun. If they are small and cannot run, they will kill them with a knife.”

(In line with MSF policy, the report did not identify the perpetrators of these attacks.)

South Sudan gained independence in July 2011, after decades of war with Sudan. During the conflict, Sudan pitted communities in the south against each other, even arming them. The legacy of this violence continues, with South Sudan accusing Sudan of backing rebel militias in the south.

Jonglei has recorded at least 302 attacks between January 2011 and September 2012; over 200,000 people were displaced and 2,500 were killed, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). These represented 43 percent of all attacks in the world’s newest nation.

Women and children now bear the brunt of this violence.

“The introduction of small arms and the decades of brutality have changed the dynamic… The men carrying out these attacks view anyone as a viable target – including women and children. Indeed, the cycle of revenge has now spiraled to the extent that the attackers regard the killing or abduction of women and children as a necessary method of revenge,” Lydia Stone, an advisor to South Sudan’s Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, told IRIN.

Sexual violence is also emerging as a new dynamic in Jonglei’s Pibor County, said Stefano Zannini, head of MSF in South Sudan. “Since 2005, in the area of Pibor, MSF never treated – had never seen – any cases of rape. And if you look, for example, at 2012, we have received 26 cases of sexual violence.” He added that 74 percent of violence survivors in Pibor treated by MSF were women and children.

Militia

Jonglei witnessed large-scale massacres in January of this year when up to 8,000 youths led by the Lou Nuer ethnic group marched on Pibor, home to the Murle, a rival minority ethnic group.

At least 600 people died, according to UN estimates, with local officials putting fatalities at over 3,000. An October report by Geneva-based think-tank Small Arms Survey (SAS) weighed up both tallies and estimated 1,000 deaths of “mostly Murle women and children.”

The violence is being fomented, at least in part, by South Sudanese officials. “Local and national-level politicians have manipulated the conflict for personal and political gain, while Jonglei-based militia groups have provided weapons to tribal fighters to further their own agendas,” noted SAS.

Attempts to pacify Jonglei have been undermined by the emergence of a new rebel threat – a militia under David Yau Yau – and a stalled disarmament effort. Yau Yau, a Murle, had been granted a presidential amnesty and given a job as an army general, but he gave up the post to resume fighting in April.

Murle mistrust of government forces has been fuelled by the misappropriation of aid meant for those affected by the Pibor massacres. “SPLA [Sudan People’s Liberation Army] officers reportedly have stolen cattle and food aid that was delivered to communities after the December and January attacks,” the SAS report said, noting that Yau Yau’s revolt reflects “Murle discontent and general insecurity in Pibor county”.

Source: Irin
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96972/SOUTH-SUDAN-Women-and-children-bear-brunt-of-Jonglei-violence