A community leader on the Malakal ‘Protection of Civilians’ site (PoC) says that 14 Sudanese traders from Darfur were injured after Shilluk youths attacked the traders on Monday accusing them of having supported the SPLA-Juba in retaking Malakal town.
No one was reported to have been killed during the clashes and they were stopped by the camp authorities from the IDPs committee, said Peter Deng, a member of the native administration at the UN base in Malakal.
He said also that six shops inside the PoC were looted by Shilluk youths.
“The attack was revenge, the Shilluk group alleged that the government forces that entered Malakal town were assisted by elements of Darfur rebels,” he said. The camp leader pointed out that the number of Sudanese citizens inside the UN base could reach 500.
Meanwhile, several Darfur traders within the PoC told Radio Tamazuj that that they had been staying in Malakal town since before the ongoing South Sudan Civil War erupted. They denied their involvement in the ongoing fighting between the warring SPLA factions.
A Sudanese trader said the UN mission has recently considered relocating the Darfur traders to an isolated location so that such incidents don’t occur again inside the UN base.
Ariane Quentier, UNMISS spokesperson, downplayed the report of clashes saying “there was an incident promptly diffused by the intervention of UNMISS personnel.”
She added, “This happened 22:00. UN Police diffused. Three civilians sustained minor injuries and four shops were destroyed.”
In a separate news, at least three civilians are reported to have been killed near the protection site at the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) base in Upper Nile State’s capital Malakal when the town was recently recaptured by government forces.
Peter Deng told Radio Tamazuj that two citizens were killed near the PoC in a cross fire when the government troops entered Malakal recently while another person inside the UN base was killed by a stray bullet.