Armed SPLA soldiers have repeatedly forced their way into the United Nations 'Protection of Civilians' site or an adjoining extension area at a peacekeeping base in Bentiu over the last month and a half, according to incident reports seen by Radio Tamazuj.

Incidents in or near the UN peacekeeping base include robberies, kidnappings, beatings, rapes, and at least five murders of civilians seeking shelter at the UN base.

Over 53,000 people are seeking shelter on the UN base in Bentiu to escape ongoing violence, but the UN site itself has also come under threat from armed groups outside.

Reports compiled by the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and humanitarians working in the Bentiu base show detailed threats and attacks on civilians in Bentiu during April and May. Both reports blame SPLA forces for the incidents.

UNMISS said it has recorded five incursions by SPLA elements into the base since the government launched its Unity offensive against the rebels on 27 April, while an incident report made by humanitarians listed nine incursions in the month of April. Three of these took place during the latest offensive.

The humanitarian report details 20 further incidents of violence or harassment against civilians outside the base in April.

Incursions into the UN Protection of Civilians site itself include a nighttime incident when six men armed with AK47s entered and looted shops to an attempt by six men armed with sticks and pangas to beat a security guard.

A number of incidents took place inside a new extension site being built for IDPs to live in.

On 29 April, an SPLA patrol approached the new extension site and began firing. "At least one SPLA technical moved a short distance into the POC extension and continued firing to the Northwest [toward the protection of civilians areas]," the incident report reads.

The bullets passed over the MSF hospital. "At around the same time, SPLA at the checkpoint near the Northwestern corner of POC 1 opened fire towards a group of IDPs who fled into the POC." A number of IDPs were wounded from the shooting.

At least two rapes took place in a new extension site being built for IDPs.

On April 14, two women walking through the extension site were raped, then taken to the Rubkona airfield and raped again. When they were later released and walked back to the UN base, they were raped by a different group of men. The military affiliation of the last group of men was unclear.

Six days later, two more women were sexually assaulted in the extension site.

Fence remains unbuilt

Currently, the extension site has no protective fence, meaning anyone can enter and leave the UN base unimpeded from that side.

Though work on the extension site began earlier this year, the fence materials – which have been purchased by UNMISS and the International Organization for Migration – remain in Juba.

UNMISS spokesperson Ariane Quentier noted that usually fences are cut by displaced people. She added that lights installed around parts of the UN base have also been tampered with.

When asked by Radio Tamazuj what UNMISS has done to prevent further incursions into the base, Quentier said:

"UNMISS has increased troops presence at locations identified as access points by the SPLA into the PoC site to act as a deterrent against external armed forces. For example, UNMISS military  have intensified their night patrols including with Armed Personnel Carriers (APC)  along the southern and eastern perimeter of PoC site and are conducting integrated foot patrols inside the PoC sites at night."

The worst attacks occurred outside the POC.

These include the abduction of a group of boys at Rubkona Market and their deployment as soldiers in the town on 15 April, the lashing of three men outside UNMISS' main gate on 30 March, and on 13 April the killing of one man and abduction of three women who were burning charcoal.

In another incident on 11 April, a woman was kidnapped from just outside the UN base. IDPs inside could hear her screaming to the attacker: "at least take me with my baby" until her cries became distant.

On 20 April, the mutilated bodies of a woman and a baby were reportedly found in the Keyerbon area of Bentiu near Kelibalik. “The women had her legs cut off above the knees and the baby had been impaled on a tree branch,” reads the report, citing eyewitnesses.

The humanitarian incident report notes that the increase in attacks coincides with a new policy announced by the SPLA Division 4 to "encircle" the camp at a distance of 3 km. Allegedly this policy was meant to create a bigger barrier in response to concerns raised by UNMISS that SPLA soldiers were too close to their base.

"This alleged order has not had the desired effect, rather an increase in violent attacks and in the presence of SPLA soldiers around the PoCs," the humanitarians noted.

The humanitarian incident report had been forward to both UNMISS as well as IGAD ceasefire monitors.

Meanwhile, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs yesterday reported that about 437,000 people are internally displaced in Unity State, which is equivalent to about three quarters of the population. The UN peacekeeping mission UNMISS last week said it received credible reports of village burnings in Guit and Koch counties. 

File photo: A UN peacekeeper stands guard at the Bentiu base, January 2014 (Courtesy Photo/Radio Tamazuj)