South Sudan’s government soldiers were likely behind an attack on a UN camp for internally displaced people in Malakal town in Upper Nile, a United Nations Board of Inquiry said.
The board’s executive summary released Friday blamed a combination of factors, including the political situation in South Sudan for the February attack which left some 30 people dead and 123 wounded.
The summary blamed the government’s creation of new states within in South Sudan which members of Shilluk ethinic group perceived as a threat to their historical claims to land east of the White Nile including Malakal.
“The board also found it highly likely that the attack was planned, or at a minimum supported by SPLA or affiliated militia to facilitate the ethnic reconfiguration of Malakal as the capital of a Dinka state,” the summary said.
The summary also blamed the UN peacekeeping mission for failing to effectively manage the crisis with some units failing to act and a lack of coordination among the mission’s civilian, police and military components.
“This failure to manage the crisis, in particular, manifested itself in a lack of urgency to enhance the security … culminating in the abandoning of sentry posts when armed elements were approaching the berm leaving the PoC (Protection of Civilian) site fully exposed and, ensuring that civilians would be placed in serious risk in the very location to which they had come for protection,” said the summary.
The board recommended that the UN should review the concept of Protection of Civilian’s Site (PoC) to avoid the false expectation of protection when it may not be feasible among other things.