The United Nations headquarters will investigate how its peacekeepers in South Sudan responded to clashes that broke out in the Malakal protection site last month, according to Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General.
Some 40,000 people were living at a ‘protection site’ adjoining a UN base in Malakal prior to an outbreak of fighting inside the protected camp in mid-February. The fighting involved Dinka and Shilluk youths inside the protection camp as well as SPLA soldiers who infiltrated the protection site from outside and joined in the fighting. About two dozen people were killed.
Thousands of people have since fled the protection site while others were left homeless by fires that ripped through the site during the fighting.
Speaking at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday, Dujarric disclosed, “The Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support are convening an Independent High-Level Board of Inquiry to conduct an in-depth investigation into the UN Mission’s response to clashes which broke out in the mission’s protection of civilians (POC) site in Malakal on 17 and 18 February.”
Last month the UN Security Council called for an investigation into the attack itself, but this is the first time that the United Nations has said that it will investigate the actions of its own peacekeeping mission, known as UNMISS.
The Security Council on 19 February said there were “credible reports of armed men in Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) uniforms entering the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) camp and firing on civilians, and the looting and burning of tents.” The Council tasked UNMISS to assist the government in carrying out its own investigation into the attack.
UNMISS’ Public Information Office has not been clear about what happened on 17-18 February at the Malakal base. Initially, UNMISS spokesperson Ariane Quenter stated that the violence was “between Shilluk and Dinka youths” but also that there was “shooting coming from outside” the UN base, according to an email dated 18 February.
In a press statement on 19 February, the next day, the Mission again referred to “shooting coming from outside the base”, but this time also implicitly acknowledged that armed attackers had breached the perimeter of the protection site. “Violence was further compounded by shooting coming from outside the base into the PoC site – reportedly from armed men allegedly donning SPLA uniforms. UN troops exchanged fire with them and eventually pushed them outside of the UN compound,” the statement reads.
However, UNMISS at that stage did not explicitly say that the perimeter of the protection site was breached, nor by whom or how. An independent journalist who was at the UNMISS base at the time of the attack later filed a report saying “it took UNMISS troops around 16 hours” before they confronted the “SPLA or allied militia” who had breached the UN perimeter.
Quentier at a press event the following week pointed out that the incident “happened in the middle of the night, between Dinka and Shilluk youths,” adding, “UNMISS however managed to react swiftly. UNMISS troops interposed themselves between the warring youths – and, at this early stage, did not use fire as it would have resulted in obvious collateral damage. When it further became clear that external assailants had entered the compound, UNMISS troops exchanged fire with them and managed to push them out of the site.”
UNMISS has estimated the death toll of the Malakal attack at 24. Asked by a journalist on 2 March the number of dead and wounded, UNMISS Spokesperson Ariane Quentier responded, “According to Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), the latest death toll was 18 dead plus, six more bodies found in the days following the clashes.”
MSF itself, however, could confirm only 19 dead but noted that this is lower than the overall toll. Jacob Kuehn, MSF South Sudan Communications Manager, told Radio Tamazuj, “MSF’s figures do not represent of the overall toll, as MSF can only confirm fatalities and casualties directly witnessed or treated.”
Another aid agency, IOM, says that “at least 25 people died during the attack and more than 120 were injured.”
Fearing to return to the ‘protection site’, over 30,000 people are now living in makeshift shelters in areas of the UNMISS base perceived to be safer but not suitable for accommodating thousands of people, according to IOM. The aid group says the area is extremely crowded, with an average of only 2.5 square metres of living space per person.
Related:
UNMISS chief pays courtesy call to Eastern Nile governor following Malakal killings (10 March)
Eastern Nile governor denies instigating Malakal clashes (29 Feb.)
S Sudan president summons governor over Malakal violence (21 Feb.)
Aid workers struggle in Malakal chaos; number of wounded tops 90 (19 Feb.)
Mass killing at UN protection site in S Sudan (18 Feb.)