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UN: Ethnic Cleansing Under Way in South Sudan

by Dan Joseph

   A U.N. human rights monitor says "ethnic cleansing" is under way in
   parts of South Sudan, and warns the country is on the brink of a
   genocide.

   Yasmin Sooka heads a U.N. Human Rights Council team that just finished
   a 10-day visit to South Sudan. In a statement Thursday, she said people
   are being displaced from their homes through a process of starvation,
   gang rape and the burning of villages.

   "Everywhere we went across this country we heard villagers saying they
   are ready to shed blood to get their land back. Many told us it's
   already reached a point of no return," Sooka said.

   She added, "The stage is being set for a repeat of what happened in
   Rwanda and the international community is under an obligation to
   prevent it."

   FILE - In this photo taken Oct. 16, 2016, a group of South Sudanese
   government soldiers sit on the back of a pickup truck before visiting
   the scene of a recent battle in Malakal, South Sudan.

   Rights groups and aid agencies have repeatedly sounded the alarm about
   South Sudan, where an armed conflict largely along ethnic lines has
   killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 2.5 million people.

   Hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering in camps protected by
   United Nations peacekeepers.

   FILE - A United Nations armored personnel carrier stands in a camp for
   the internally-displaced in Juba, South Sudan, July 25, 2016.

   The war was triggered by fighting between supporters of President Salva
   Kiir and his rival, Riek Machar, in December 2013. A peace deal reached
   last year in Addis Ababa broke down after renewed fighting in the
   capital, Juba, this past July.

   FILE - Riek Machar (L) and FILE - President Salva Kiir (R) shake hands
   following the first meeting of a new transitional coalition government,
   in the capital Juba, S. Sudan, April 29, 2016.

   Sooka, a human rights lawyer from South Africa, led a three-person team
   that visited parts of Unity, Upper Nile, Western Bahr el Ghazal and
   Central and Eastern Equatoria states.

   Sooka said she was especially disturbed by the prevalence of rape
   across the country. "The scale of rape of women and girls perpetrated
   by all armed groups in South Sudan is utterly unacceptable and is
   frankly mind-boggling," she said.