About 60 civilians were killed at a UN camp in the town of Bor six months ago on 17 April 2014. No arrests have been made in connection with the killings and state authorities say they are not now involved in any ongoing investigations.
Initial media reports on the incident described the attackers as youths of Bor County, with Radio Tamazuj also reporting that some of the gunmen were wearing uniforms or were off-duty soldiers.
After the attack, the government spokesperson Michael Makuei Lueth equated the killing of unarmed men, women and children in Bor with the killing of “rebels.”
Interior Minister Aleu Ayieny Aleu argued that the rampage was ‘provoked’ by UN peacekeepers who fired warning shots seeking to deter the armed pro-government youths from storming the UN protection site where several thousand unarmed ethnic Nuers were living.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on 14 October, the top law enforcement official in Jonglei State said state authorities are not taking part in any investigation into the events at the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) base in Bor six months ago.
He said that in early September a committee comprised of three people headed by Molana Yahanis Akol went to Jonglei to investigate events that had taken place there, including the loss of lives inside the UNMISS protection site in Bor.
Asked to confirm whether any arrests have been made for the killings, State Minister of Local Government and Law Enforcement Peter Wal Athiu said they are not taking parts in the investigation process.
“The investigation is being carried out by the national government – as you know, Molana Wol came and met each of us in the state but here in Bor, we don’t have an investigation committee because all the power are with the national government to investigate who has done what and to take measures,” Wal explained.
However, he disclosed that a list of suspects was handed to the caretaker governor and when they discussed this with the state ministers, it created some disagreement on how those named people were discovered.
Information Minister Jody Jonglei told Radio Tamazuj that they have not set up any investigation committee because the investigations were said to have been done at the Juba level and the officials there did not send any feedback to the state government for how to proceed.
For his part, one of the survivors of the Bor massacre told Radio Tamazuj from inside UNMISS Bor that he suspects the government had a hand in the killings; otherwise, he pointed out, they would have made arrests of the killers through the chiefs in the various payams.
Bentiu
Meanwhile, no arrests have been made in connection with the separate massacres carried out at the mosque, hospital and elsewhere in Bentiu town on 15 April. Several hundred people were killed in the town shortly after SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Riek Machar took control.
Machar’s forces later lost control of Bentiu. With the withdrawal of his forces, the suspected perpetrators are thought to have left the city.
Peter Makuoth, Minister of Information in Unity State told Radio Tamazuj that the state government has not formed any committee to investigate the crimes committed in Bentiu because they are still fearing being attacked by the rebels.
UNMISS, however, said that its Human Rights Division is “finalizing its investigations of the killings in Bentiu and Bor” as part of its mandate to monitor human rights abuses.
“To the best of our knowledge, no arrests have been made in connection with the murders that took place in Bentiu and Bor six months ago,” said Joe Contreras, head of the UNMISS Media Monitoring Unit in the Public Information Office.
Photo: Civilians killed in Bor, South Sudan in April 2014
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Understanding the Bentiu massacres in South Sudan (1 May)
Exclusive: Bentiu massacre survivors speak (23 Apr.)
Two IRC staff among victims of Bor massacre (22 Apr.)
Videos: New atrocities in South Sudan (20 Apr.)
Armed youth, uniformed gunmen attack UN camp in Bor killing 60 (17 Apr.)
Hundreds feared dead in Bentiu massacres (17 Apr.)