One year after the mass killing of over 300 civilians in Bentiu, South Sudan, unarmed people remain under threat with little access to basic services including health care, medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said this week.
On 15 April 2014, 306 civilians – mostly Darfuri traders – were mowed down in a mosque and hospital in Bentiu by opposition forces, according to the United Nations.
Before the massacre, MSF had operated a project in the Bentiu hospital treating people suffering from HIV and TB.
“The modern hospital in town where MSF provided TB and HIV care has been ransacked, the windows and doors smashed, medical equipment and drugs scattered about,” MSF said in a statement marking the massacre’s anniversary. “Infested with bats and vermin, it is no longer in use.”
According to a UN report, soldiers acting under command of an SPLA-IO officer went ward by ward through that medical facility, killing patients and others. MSF said some 6000 people then fled to the town’s UN base for safety. Twelve months later, the situation has changed little.
“The violence and displacement have continued and access to basic healthcare and food remains a problem for people living in rural areas outside the town,” MSF said.
Since the killings, the number of people inside the UN base has only increased, the humanitarian agency said. Over 53,000 people today live on the 1 km₂ piece of land in the camp.
“Bentiu, the former vibrant state capital, is now a garrison town, with most businesses and market stalls run by government soldiers,” MSF explained. “Although the bodies of civilians that littered the streets have been cleared away, the carcasses of abandoned vehicles remain at the side of the road. Most of the town’s houses were burnt to the ground and have not been rebuilt.”
The medical organization said that the people sheltering inside the UN base “have no choice but to remain inside for the foreseeable future” due to active fighting and shelling.
Satellite images of burned homes in Leer, Unity state
Related:
Document: UN releases details of April Bentiu massacre (11 Jan.)
Six months after Bor and Bentiu massacres in South Sudan, no arrests (16 Oct.)