Attacks in South Sudan are set to be investigated by the UN. Targeted at aid workers that came to help victims attacked at a hotel compound in Juba on July 11, the attacks in South Sudan proved to be vicious and cruel.
South Sudanese troops were reported to gang-rape, beat and rob aid workers, and especially targeted Americans, at the same hotel compound. Interviewed witnesses stated that the soldiers carried out mock executions and forced the aid workers to watch as they killed a local journalist.
The AP report also claims that the people at the Terrain hotel compound, where the attacks in South Sudan took place, called for help for hours from the U.N peacekeeping force that was located less than a kilometer away, as well as from the U.S embassy. The Terrain hotel is a popular area for expatriates and South Sudanese elites, sources report.
The U.S Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Samantha Power, stated, “Throughout this three-year conflict, the government of South Sudan has routinely allowed impunity for murder and sexual violence.” She claimed the attacks in South Sudan represent a failing on the part of both South Sudan’s government and U.N Peacekeepers.
“We are deeply concerned that the United Nations peacekeepers were apparently either incapable or unwilling to respond to calls for help. We have requested and are awaiting the outcome of an investigation by the United Nations and demand swift corrective action in the event that these allegations are substantiated,” Powers added. A special investigation into the Terrain hotel incidents are going to be launched, per U.N Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The attacks in South Sudan have people like Hannah Bryce, the assistant head of the international security department at the London-based Chatham House believing that there will be considerable international pressure for the South Sudanese government to make an appropriate response to the attacks.
The South Sudanese government has refused to accept the U.N attempts at resolution, and have claimed they will not cooperate due to reasons of sovereignty.
