The Telegraph
UN security Council expresses outrage over attack on one of their bases in South Sudan where civilians were sheltering which saw at least 58 people killed
Members of the White Army, a South Sudanese anti-government militia, attend a rally in Nasir Photo: AFP/Getty Images
The United Nations Security Council said the attack which killed at least 58 people on a UN base in South Sudan where thousands of civilians were sheltering may 'constitute a war crime'.
Expressing its "outrage" over the attack on Friday, the world body demanded the South Sudan government do more to prevent future attacks against civilians.
"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms these acts and underscored that attacks on civilians and UN peacekeepers may constitute a war crime," said a statement that was adopted unanimously by all Security Council members.
It added: "The members of the Security Council called on the government of South Sudan to immediately take steps to ensure the safety of all civilians and UNMISS Protection of Civilian sites in South Sudan, to swiftly investigate these incidents, and to bring the perpetrators of these egregious acts to justice."
Earlier in the day, the UN confirmed that at least 58 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded in the attack. Among the dead were children. The UN has warned that the death toll could increase.
The top UN official in the war-torn nation, Toby Lanzer, praised peacekeepers
from India, Nepal and South Korea for preventing what could have been a
massacre of up to 5,000 people, and vowed the world body would use "lethal
force" if it was required.
"We will do everything necessary to protect the lives of people in our
protection, including the use of lethal force," Lanzer told AFP.
In the clearest account yet of Thursday's incident in the
government-controlled town of Bor, Lanzer described how a group of around
350 armed youths in civilian clothes "used extremely violent force to
breach the perimeter" of the UN base.
He said they opened fire on terrified civilians, who have sought shelter with
the UN from a wave of ethnic violence, with the apparent aim of killing as
many people as possible.
"When we realised we were under attack we responded ... the quick actions
of the peacekeepers saved lives," Lanzer said.
"Forty-eight bodies, including children, women, men, have been recovered
from inside the base. The bodies of 10 attackers have been found outside the
base," he said.
Lanzer said measures had been taken to boost security at other UN bases in the
country, which are sheltering close to 60,000 people from different ethnic
groups.
"This past week has been the most bleak in South Sudan's history,"
Lanzer said, citing the attack on the UN base as well as reports of renewed
atrocities further north in the oil-hub of Bentiu, which fell to rebel
forces during the week.
He said South Sudan's conflict, which began on December 15 following a clash
between army units loyal to President Salva Kiir and troops backing ousted
vice president Riek Machar, had now descended into "a cycle of revenge".
"It's vital that all communities realise that they are taking this
country nowhere fast," he said.
The UN's aid agency UNOCHA said it was "particularly outraged by
deliberate and targeted killings of civilians in hospitals, churches, UN
peacekeeping bases and other places where people's rights should be
sacrosanct".
Most of the civilians hiding in the UN base in Bor are thought to be ethnic
Nuer, the same tribe of Machar, who now leads a rebel force comprised of
ethnic militia and army defectors. During the week the rebels captured the
town of Bentiu, a key oil hub in the north.
Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, still controls the capital and maintains the loyalty of
a large part of the army. He is also backed by troops from neighbouring
Uganda.
The conflict in South Sudan, which only won independence from Sudan in 2011
and is the world's youngest nation, has left thousands dead and forced
around a million people to flee their homes.
The fighting has been marked by reports and allegations of atrocities by both
sides, with ethnic massacres, child soldier recruitment and patients raped
and murdered in hospitals by attacking forces.
Responding to the Bor attack, South Sudan's government signalled that its
relations with the UN were deteriorating – accusing peacekeepers of
provoking demonstrators and sheltering rebel supporters.
"The UNMISS force shot bullets on air. Their shooting of bullets on air
provoked the situation," Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth told
reporters, saying the youths were only going to the base to protest against
displaced persons who were celebrating recent rebel advances.
Aside from the pressure of protecting and feeding tens of thousands of
civilians, the UN and humanitarian aid agencies are also warning that more
than one million people in South Sudan are at risk of famine.
The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, urged countries that have
committed additional forces to UNMISS to speed up their deployment, and said
Washington will work with its allies to determine who was responsible for
the "horrific attack" in Bor.
Earlier this week, rebel leader Machar said he had set his sights on oilfields
in the north and the capital Juba, and after the fall of Bentiu, government
officials have reported more heavy fighting across the oil-rich Unity State.
Edited by Steve Wilson
South Sudan refugees 17 Jan 2014
Daily Telegraph photographer Geoff Pugh travelled to the tiny harbour town of
Minkamen, South Sudan, to witness refugees fleeing from the ongoing tribal
war. After only 31 days of fighting one person in every 20 is a refugee
within or outside the country. Some 400,000 are “internally displaced”;
another 75,000 are in camps in neighbouring states.
Here, a barge packed with refugees arrives in Minkamen from the fighting in
Bor.
Picture: GEOFF PUGH FOR THE TELEGRAPH
Picture: GEOFF PUGH FOR THE TELEGRAPH
The boatmen must be skilled navigators to negotiate the White Nile, a
ribbon of islands and channels perhaps 10 miles wide. Above, one of
the ancient barges ferrying the displaced to the safety of Minkamen
sets off to collect another group of refugees. 
Carrying what they can of their possessions, refugees disembark from a vessel
Those who make the journey across the White Nile from Bor are mainly
Dinkas, fleeing the predominantly Nuer insurgents who have captured
the town
Crowds gather to watch as Sudan People's Liberation Army soldiers leave by boat from Minkamen
SPLA soliders protect the barges during their perilous crossings
Young boys watch as the soliders prepare to leave
Children collect clean water for their families inside the Minkamen
refugee camp. Some 85,000 people have arrived in Minkamen in the past
four weeks, overwhelming a resident population of about 60,000.
Inside the refugee camp in Minkaman, Awerial County, where people have been coming to escape the fighting in Bor
A little girl looks after her younger sibling as they get used to their new surroundings in the camp
A man poses with his AK-47 rifle inside the Minakmen enclosure 
Children stop to pose for the photographer whilst exploring their temporary surroundings
Inside the refugee camp in Minkaman, Awerial County
People make their shelters out of whatever they have to hand 
For an in-depth read on the Minakmen camp and the causes of the civil war by the Daily Telegraph's David Blair, click here
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