Government soldiers attacked civilians and civilian property in counterinsurgency operations in the south and west of Wau that began in June 2018, a rights group said in a new report on Wednesday.
The report, based witness accounts, indicated that tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee into the bush or United Nations protection sites and other displacement sites in Wau.
“There may be a new peace deal in South Sudan, but government forces are committing new abuses against civilians,” said Jehanne Henry, associate Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “This is the latest chapter in a long history of violence and impunity that has uprooted and traumatized hundreds of thousands of people in this part of the country.”
The rights group pointed out that South Sudan’s army began an operation in rebel-held areas in Wad Alel and areas south and southwest of the city of Wau in an apparent effort to gain control of rebel territories before South Sudan’s warring parties signed the final peace deal.
The report stated that government forces disrupted humanitarian access to the area and prevented human rights investigators from reaching the sites. But civilians in Wau who witnessed the attacks in June and July told Human Rights Watch they saw at least eight dead bodies of civilians.
These attacks began in June 2018, Human Rights Watch said in a new report, with witnesses describing the shooting of civilians, burning and looting of homes, and attacks on schools, churches and health centers.
Rebels in Wad Alel during June and July forcibly recruited young men, according to the report. The group said credible reports say fighting and attacks on civilians are continuing in the region.
“With an endless cycle of violence and new atrocities against civilians occurring every day, ensuring justice for abuses is essential to reestablish rule of law and stability in the western region,” Henry said. “South Sudan’s authorities should act quickly to carry out the agreement with the African Union to establish the hybrid court.”
A recent report published by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimates that at least 382,900 people have died as a result of the country's five-year civil war.