Amnesty International released a report accusing the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the South Sudanese government of failing to act on warnings before a brutal attack on the village of Abiemnom, near the Sudan border, on March 1. The report states that UNMISS, which had about 30 peacekeepers stationed in the area, did not reinforce its presence until after the assault, despite knowing that an attack was likely.
According to Amnesty, between 1,000 and 1,500 armed men from Mayom County entered Abiemnom, killing more than 200 people. The death toll includes 130 local residents, 76 security personnel and seven foreign nationals. The attackers burned homes, looted a hospital and left more than 230 structures destroyed, as satellite images confirm. Most victims were buried in two mass graves.
Amnesty’s findings suggest the violence may have been sparked by earlier tensions over the killing of several young men from Mayom County. The report calls the UN’s delayed response a “failure to take stronger action that cost lives.”
UNMISS spokesperson Priyanka Chowdhury defended the mission’s actions, noting that limited resources forced the force to focus on protecting civilians already sheltering in a protected area. She said the mission had repeatedly requested additional troops from the national army and had known tensions were high since mid‑February. After the attack, UNMISS deployed 40 more police officers.
The United Nations Security Council had recently renewed UNMISS’s mandate but reduced its authorised troop ceiling from 17,000 to 12,000. Amnesty questions why the mission was not able to deploy forces sooner, especially after a similar deadly attack in April 2025.
South Sudan is scheduled to hold elections on December 22, a process many fear could destabilise the fragile peace. African Union envoy Jakaya Kikwete has urged the UN Security Council to help ensure a peaceful vote, while the International Crisis Group warns that a rushed election could undermine the 2018 peace agreement that ended five years of civil war.
South Sudanese authorities have not responded to Amnesty’s letters requesting information and responses to the preliminary findings. The rights group calls for an independent investigation into the killings and a separate review of the peacekeepers’ response.
Source: Al Jazeera
Read the original article
Editorial note: This is an original news report prepared from the attributed source material with AI assistance. It is not a reproduction or translation of the original article.
