Crimes against humanity likely carried out in South Sudan war

South Sudan soldiers stand guard ahead of being reviewed by UN Secretary General in Juba Warring forces on both sides of South Sudan's brutal civil war have likely carried crimes against humanity, the United Nations said Thursday, warning of "countless" gross violations of human rights. The UN peacekeeping mission in the country "finds that there are reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed during the conflict by both government and opposition forces," it said in a report.
"Countless incidents of gross violations of human rights and serious violations of humanitarian law have occurred during the conflict in South Sudan," said the report, based on over 900 interviews with victims and witnesses.
"These include extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, rape, the direct targeting of civilians, often along ethnic lines, as well as ill-treatment and the destruction of property. These are crimes for which perpetrators bear individual criminal responsibility."
The release of the report comes one day before President Salva Kiir and rebel chief Riek Machar are due to meet for talks in Ethiopia, although Machar has already said he will likely not reach Addis Ababa in time.
While both leaders speak of peace, fierce fighting continues, and the United Nations has warned of the risk of famine and genocide.
"Despite the signing of a cessation of hostilities agreement on 23 January, fighting continues with little hope that civilians will see any respite from the relentless violence," the UN report added.
Although starting as a personal rivalry between Kiir and Machar, the conflict has seen armies divide along ethnic lines and fighting pitting members of Kiir's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer.
The United States this week unveiled its first sanctions in response to the "unthinkable violence", targeting one military leader from each side.
The report detailed horrific killings, including in the first days after fighting broke out in the capital Juba on December 15.
One Nuer man recounted to UN rights workers how army troops raided houses and shot civilians in Juba.
"Nuer were being killed like chickens," he said, according to the report.
"Witness after witness recounted horror as they watched security forces enter their communities, sometimes in tanks and with heavy weaponry, and round up their relatives and neighbours," it added.
"In some cases, victims were killed immediately; in others, they were taken to other locations and killed."
In other areas, Dinka people were targeted for their ethnicity and killed, including in massacres in the northern oil town of Bentiu, where fighting continues.
Source: AFP