Amnesty criticises South Sudan, UN over failure to heed massacre warnings

A massacre that Amnesty International says could have been prevented. More than 200 people were killed when hundreds of armed men stormed the South Sudanese town of Aben-Nom in March. According to a new investigation, both South Sudanese authorities and the UN peacekeeping mission had been warned of an impending attack weeks in advance. The report details what it describes as grave failures to protect civilians, with some victims killed just meters from a UN base. To discuss the findings, I'm joined by Donatella Rivera, Senior Crisis Response Advisor at Amnesty International. Thank you for being with us. So first, can you take us back to March 1st and explain what happened in Abimnom? On the 1st of March, just before dawn at about 4.30 a.m., the residents of Abiem Nam were caught in their sleep. By a large attack, hundreds and hundreds of armed men from nearby Mayom County were attacking the small town. And as people tried to hide and to flee to safety, they were shot. But the men who the attackers shot randomly at those who were. Within their site, people were fleeing, people were trying to hide in their houses or in the bush. And more than 200, in fact, 213 people were killed. Most of them were just civilian residents of the town. A few of them were members of the security forces and the police. Who tried to defend the town, but they were themselves also killed. Okay. Sorry, go ahead. Yes, the attack did not come as an absolute surprise. There had been indication for over two weeks that an attack on the town was imminent. That's what I was going to say. I think that perhaps even though the situation was obviously very dire, but perhaps the most disturbing finding in your report is that both the South Sudanese government and UNMISS, the UN mission, had received warnings of this imminent attack up to two weeks beforehand. So what exactly did they know? We don't know exactly what they knew, but what we do know is that there was awareness of an imminent attack, that an impending attack was likely, and that is why the UN mission, UNMISS, UNMISS had contacted the commanders of the South Sudanese security forces to ask them to deploy you ...protection force to the town. very That did not happen. They also knew because... The residents of the town were, for the previous two weeks, much. the two weeks before the attacks, were going every night to the UN base to try and, you know, in the hope of finding safety there. Thank you very much. In the end, unfortunately, they did not find safety and many were killed within sight of the UN base. Donatella, we reached out to UNMISS, the UN Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan, and this is what they had to say. They sent a statement saying that before the attack, UNMISS responded to early warnings through sustained engagement with authorities and community leaders and repeated requests for additional national security forces to be deployed. Our peacekeepers also established a protective area where between 1,000 and 1,500 residents sheltered each other. Each night, and when the attack began, peacekeepers brought civilians into the temporary base and provided life-saving medical assistance to the injured. So what is your reaction to this statement? Yes, I mean, as I said, we know that UNMISS had contacted the South Sudanese forces asking for a protective force to be sent to the town and that did not happen. We know that a certain number of residents of the town were able to shelter in the base when the attack happened. But the reality is that the majority of the town's residents had nowhere to find any safe shelter. Obviously, we were not present in Abiemnom at the time of the attack. We visited afterwards. So. So with regard to any protective area that UNMISS may or may not have set up outside the base, the fact is that whatever measure was taken outside the base was not effective because residents were killed and injured. Right outside the base as they were hoping to go inside, but the base was kept closed during most of the attack. It was open at the very beginning of the attack and then it was closed again. The gates were closed again and only reopened at the end of the attack. And that's why so many people, 213 people were killed and many, many more. Were injured. Obviously, we are aware that UNMISS was facing resources constraints. However, the fact is that no additional resources were provided to the UN temporary base in Abiemnon, which could have made a big difference because ultimately there were no protection resources in the town just as the attack was very likely to happen imminently. You also say that the South Sudanese authorities have failed to investigate the massacre and Did you get any response from the government? We have not received any response from the South Sudanese government. It is indeed true that first and foremost the responsibility lies with the authorities of South Sudan who have routinely and systematically and consistently over the years failed to investigate atrocities committed against civilians. Thank killings of ordinary people. That is something that has happened repeatedly, although this particular attack in Abiyamnom was by far the largest documented in recent years. And we know that impunity is a driver for the recurrence of such attacks you. and the fact that there has been ...impunity for previous attack, including a similar, though smaller, attack that occurred in Abiyamnon a year earlier. The fact that the South Sudanese authorities have both... failed to deploy the necessary resources to protect the population at a time when it was known that an attack was imminent and that the fact that they have not to date, to our knowledge, carried out any investigation. And so to date, nobody has been held accountable for this atrocity. So much to discuss, Donatella, that unfortunately that's all we have time for. Thank you very much. Donatella Rivera, Senior Crisis Response Advisor at Amnesty International. Thank you very much.