Monday, December 05, 2016

SOUTH SUDAN - Risk of an ethnic massacre: "in Yei people live in fear", says the Bishop

"Over a hundred thousand people live in fear and uncertainty and are unable to leave the city", denounces to Radio Easter His Exc. Mgr. Erkolano Lodu Tombe, Bishop of Yei, Equatoria city in South Sudan, hit by a wave of murders and massacres attributed to mixed military-civilian armed groups that target suspected supporters of former Vice President Riek Machar (see Fides 30/08/2016).

"There is no shooting in Yei at the moment, but the population lives in constant fear of a new wave of violence and murders" says Mgr. Lodu. 

The Bishop added that the population of the surrounding villages cannot travel to Yei, except for those who come by air from other counties and other States. 

Farmers cannot go and take care of their crops and the population will have to continue to use humanitarian assistance to feed themselves until 2017.

The civil war between the faction of President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar has taken an ethnic dimension, opposing the Dinka to the Nuer. 


Other ethnic groups and tribes have allied to one of the two contenders, hoping to gain advantages in their local conflicts.

The US representative at the Council of the UN Human Rights in Geneva denounced that the South Sudanese government is preparing to support large-scale attacks against the population in Central Equatoria region.