The Ugandan Army (UPDF) in South Sudan exchanged fire with ‘Auxiliary Police’ in Bor in the vicinity of the UN base where a massacre took place last month. One civilian was hurt in the crossfire.
About 60 unarmed civilians seeking protection inside the base were killed when the base perimeter was breached by gunmen on 17 April. Tensions have been high since then and the Ugandan army offered to help protect the UN base.
The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) reported Thursday that as a result of the shooting some of the 4,800 people who live in the base for their own protection fled into the adjoining UNMISS Compound, which is more secure than the camp site they occupy, while the UN staff went into bunkers.
According to the UN, the shooting was between South Sudanese ‘auxiliary police’ and Ugandan soldiers. The heavy shooting of small arms and heavy machine guns took place east of the UNMISS-Bor camp and lasted for about six minutes
“UN peacekeepers calmed the situation, and also provided medical treatment to one displaced person who was wounded in the crossfire,” the spokesperson in New York said.
The reason for the shootings remained unclear.
The Ugandan army earlier this year helped the SPLA of President Salva Kiir to take Bor after the army division based in Bor defected to the opposition forces led by former vice president Riek Machar.
The shooting took place just as the UN High Commissioner for Human Righs, Navi Pillay, and Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, were visiting South Sudan passing through Bor. They are expected to brief the Security Council on their visit.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the attack on civilians and UN peacekeepers in the same camp on April 17. He said the attack on the peacekeepers was unacceptable and constituted a war crime.
The UN spokesman yesterday also disclosed that there were also reports of fighting between Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and Opposition forces in Panyagor and Wanyar Payam, also in Jonglei State.
Photo: South Korean soldiers provide water at the camp in Bor PoC, 26 Dec. 2013 (Yonhap News Agency)