The United Nations has acknowledged that its vehicles in Bor and Bentiu were looted by opposition forces and apparently used in their operations during recent fighting.
Asked whether rebels were using UNMISS equipment in recent fighting on the Bor front, Ariane Quentier, the spokesperson of the UN Mission in South Sudan, confirmed to Radio Tamazuj that vehicles had been used “for various purposes.”
“The rebel forces have been stealing some of our cars, cars which are marked with the white UN sign, they’ve been using these cars for various purposes, they’ve been storming our compounds and storage facilities, they looted them, and this has been used by the anti-government forces,” said Quentier in an interview Friday.
Citing a figure from a UN statement dated 10 January, she said that at least 20 vehicles owned by UN and humanitarian agencies were looted, mostly in Bentiu and Bor. But according to more recently compiled figures from the UN coordination agency OCHA, the number of commandeered vehicles is 43 as of 17 January.
The international organizations and UN are not the only ones to be targeted. During fighting earlier this month in Unity State, the commissioner of Mayom County told Radio Tamazuj there were no longer any civilian vehicles whatsoever in the county, since all had been seized by the fighters.
Hilde Johnson, head of the UN Mission in South Sudan, has condemned the looting in a written statement: “This is unacceptable. I call on the leader of the anti-government forces, Riek Machar Teny, to instruct the forces under his command to stop this practice.”
She also demanded that Machar “make sure that looted assets and goods, including vehicles, are immediately returned, and to respect the operations of the UN and our humanitarian partners.”
UNMISS also has acknowledged that government security forces have stopped its patrols, which it said was a violation of an agreement between the UN and the South Sudan government because it prevents UNMISS from implementing its mandate.
File photo: A truck with looted items in Abyei town, 28 May 2011 (UNMIS/Stuart Price)