AU Condemns Latest Ethnic Violence in South Sudan

{{The African Union (AU) has condemned the latest round of violence in South Sudan’s Unity and Jonglei states in which hundreds of civilians were killed in apparent ethnically motivated attacks.}}

More than 200 civilians were reportedly killed and more than 400 wounded while sheltering in a Mosque on 15 April after rebels retook Unity state capital Bentiu from government forces, in what the chairperson of the AU Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, described as a “dastardly act”.

This was followed by an attack two days later on civilians sheltering inside a UN base camp in Jonglei state capital Bor, which left more than 40 dead and scores wounded.

The attacks have shattered a January ceasefire deal signed between the South Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition, brokered by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which is mediating peace talks.

Dlamini-Zuma has called on both sides to investigate the attacks and bring those responsible for the killings to justice.

“The chairperson of the commission strongly urges both parties to the conflict in South Sudan to take seriously the upcoming political negotiations to resolve their dispute,” the AU said in a statement issued on Tuesday, with Dlamini-Zuma also calling for a deployment of an IGAD-led monitoring team to implement the terms of the ceasefire agreement and “avoid such similar tragedies in the future”.

{sudantribune}