Posted on 05/10/2018 2:02:13 AM PDT by BBell
The skeletons of burnt-out vehicles lie scattered all the way from Bentiu's landing strip to the camp for internally-displaced people.
There has been fighting here in the capital of South Sudan's Unity State since the country's civil war began in 2013.
Today, after a year of relative calm, violence has again surged between government forces and the opposition.
The head of the United Nations Mission in Unity, Hiroko Hirahara, believes that this is linked to an upcoming round of peace talks.
"People started becoming a bit more political because they wanted to position themselves," she told Euronews' reporter in South Sudan, Monica Pinna.
"That doesn’t only mean politically but also what they occupy. Because if and when the peace process starts talking about the implementation of the agreement, these questions will come up: 'Where is your territory?' 'Who are you?' 'Which party are you representing?'"
The civil war has entered its fifth year.
Today armed conflict is ongoing and potentially expanding in the states of Unity, Jonglei, Central Equatoria and Upper Nile. What's more, the west of the country could easily flare up again, according to NGOs.
The conflict has triggered a desperate humanitarian situation with over two million refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries and two million more people internally displaced (IDPs).
The biggest camp for internally displaced people is in Bentiu. Some 120,000 people live in the so-called 'Protection of Civilians' settlement, watched over by the UN and assisted by NGOs and agencies like UNICEF.
"The humanitarian situation is becoming almost unbearable, with areas remaining cut off for weeks," UNICEF's Field Office head in Bentiu, Mustapha Ben Messaud, told Euronews.
"Since 2013, we've had 100 humanitarian workers lose their lives. The population suffers this on a daily basis. They face violence. Over the past six weeks, unfortunately, 30,000 children have been unable to go to school because of the latest fighting in this geographic area."
Active hostilities impacting humanitarian operations have led to record levels of food insecurity. Last year, famine was declared in parts of Unity State, meaning 100,000 people faced starvation.
"Over 6 million South Sudanese people are suffering from severe food insecurity as a result of the conflict," Monica Pinna said from outside the local hospital.
"Malnourushed children are an early indicator. Here at Bentiu's hospital, the numbers are growing, each week."
"Currently, we have 120 cases admitted for severe acute malnutrition and these cases have been increasing on a monthly basis," explained Gitau Nicholas Chege, Nutrition Program Manager with Care International.
"This is in regard to the influx of IDPs who come here. If these children are not screened, they end up dying."
South Sudan's government urged the United States on Wednesday not to "abandon" the country after Washington said it would review its assistance programs because it could not continue a partnership with leaders perpetuating "endless war".
The US is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to South Sudan. Its funding provides aid to millions of South Sudanese refugees in Uganda and lifesaving assistance such as food to people still inside the war-torn country.
Washington's statement says the US is committed to saving lives but does not want its assistance to "prolong the conflict" or facilitiate corrupt behaviour by elites.
"The Government of South Sudan has lost credibility, and the United States is losing patience," the White House declared.
"I saw many bodies on the ground, but nobody buried them"
More mothers are coming with their children for hospital treatment in Bentiu from Leer, a county in southern Unity that is currently under fire.
Nyajiel Pech is 30-years-old and has 5 children. She had to walk for six days without food to reach the hospital. Her son is severely malnourished.
"Many people died, many people escaped and went to the bush but have disappeared since," she said.
"I saw many bodies on the ground, but nobody buried them. We ran away when we saw this."
Fought largely along ethnic lines, the war started just two years after South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011.
The world's youngest state plunged into crisis when President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, fired his deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer.
Rampant sexual violence is also used as a weapon of war in South Sudan.
Islam is only about 7% of the population so you can't blame it all on muzzies.
Tribal groupings.
Islam wasn’t a factor in the Rwandan Genocide.
No it wasn’t. I only added what I did about Islam so it would stop any of the “Islam again” crowd from chiming in. Or the inevitable “how many Muslims in South Sudan” question.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/od.html
Try again, but this time use SOUTH Sudan.
You might want to actually read your reference before condemning someone. Look especially at the map!
You posted the CIA Fact Book reference to SUDAN, the northern, Muslim half of the whole country also formerly called “Sudan”.
This article is about the new country, SOUTH Sudan, the southern half of the old “Sudan” which split from the north after many years of civil war.
The old Sudan was ruled by the mostly Arab, Muslim north. The south is animist and Christian.
This is a Tribal War between Black, African tribes. Most journalists and ‘diplomats’ know little and care nothing about the effects of Tribalism because it doesnt fit their world view.
I don’t see anything wrong with the particular article that you posted, but the news company that published it did get my attention first. Earlier, another article published by Euronews was anti-American and anti-Israeli propaganda about the latest events in in Syria and Israel.
Euronews
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euronews
“Euronews is a multilingual news media service, headquartered in Lyon, France. Created in 1993, it aims to cover world news from a pan-European perspective. Euronews is majority owned by Naguib Sawiris, an Egyptian businessman, who is chairman of its supervisory board. Sawiris owns 53% of the channel (through Media Globe Networks).”
Agreed on the cause of the many fights in South Sudan, too: lack of culture. Again, I’m sorry that I misunderstood. My mistake.
I’m inhibited against blaming it on tribal culture in general, though. Some tribal cultures of the past in places other than Africa weren’t so bad (from pre-Greek-Empire Israel to pre-Roman-Empire Anatolia to ancient northwestern Europe). And my contemporary tribe (AKA clan) is a little rough around the edges but not so bad. As a matter of opinion, we need more tribes for ourselves! Family was the foundation of civilization for us.
Can’t understand why the U.S.A. got involved in Somalia during the ‘90s, either. The atrocities were committed against our own soldiers by the Clintons and their constituents who sent our men to Somalia.
The international push against the Boers decades ago in SA was also wrong.
I guess I was right. I had been following the Sudanese civil war for quite sometime because it was clearly a case of the Islamic north going after Christians ,animist and non-Arabs in the South. When Sudan split up I thought things would calm down in South Sudan but it obviously did not. It may take a generation or more for this new country to come together under one flag but tribalism runs deep in that part of the world.
Yes, I was just backing you up.
Kim Du Toit’s “Let Africa Sink” essay comes to mind.
I looked it up. I’ll read it later. The ChiComs are showing no interest in letting Africa sink. At least not before they fleece the continent and colonize it.
The Europeans really did a number in Africa and the middle east when they drew artificial lines for borders without any thought to the historic boundaries of the local tribes. This is what lead to the genocide in Rwanda. They split up the Tutu nation. Kind of like they split up the Kurds.
I think he covers that in the comments.
Got it book marked.
The next day: “Three Heads Found”.
The third day: “Heads Don’t Match Bodies”.
You can’t make this stuff up.
I had to stop and take an aspirin. I laughed so hard my chest hurt.
The guy nails it. Search the term “toxic charities”. Lots of them in Africa, to little improvement except in the bank accounts of corrupt government officials.
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