NAIROBI, Kenya - Rebel forces in South Sudan attacked Malakal, the capital of the oil-rich state of Upper Nile, again Tuesday, amid reports of a ferry accident that claimed the lives of more than 200 people trying to flee sectarian fighting.
All of the people killed, possibly as many as 300, were civilians, including women and children abandoning Malakal, said Col. Philip Aguer, a spokesman for the South Sudanese military. “The boat was overloaded,” he said.
Many people displaced by the fighting in South Sudan have sought safety by crowding into barges and crossing the White Nile. In the rush to escape, witnesses have described how people have been crushed or fallen overboard and drowned, but the recent accident is the worst reported yet.
Malakal has traded hands twice in the conflict, with the rebels capturing the strategic city early in the conflict, then retreating in the face of a government assault in late December.
“Today there is fighting anew” in and around Malakal, said Toby Lanzer, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, in a message on Twitter on Tuesday. He said the number of civilians seeking protection at the nearby U.N. base had “soared from 10,000 to 19,000.”
The fighting was touched off by a political dispute between President Salva Kiir and his former vice president, Riek Machar. Kiir dismissed Machar along with the rest of his Cabinet in July.
The United Nations said in late December that more than 1,000 people had been killed since fighting broke out Dec. 15. The International Crisis Group said last week that the number of fatalities was approaching 10,000.
The humanitarian crisis continues to grow. According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, about 413,000 people are internally displaced and 66,500 are seeking refuge at U.N. bases around the country. More than 74,300 already have fled the country, with 4,000 to 5,000 arriving daily in neighboring Uganda alone, 4 out of 5 of them children.
“We all assume that the humanitarian situation will get worse. There are new people displaced,” said Jose Barahona, country director in South Sudan for Oxfam. Access for humanitarian-aid groups has been difficult in the rapidly shifting security situation. In places like Malakal, he said, it can be safe one day and dangerous the next as offensives and counteroffensives take shape.
“Due to the uncertainty of military operations, we have been deploying and evacuating people the whole time,” Barahona said. “There are very few places in the country where we can actually go.”
The Satellite Sentinel Project, a nonprofit group, released satellite photographs showing homes destroyed in the town of Mayom, in Unity state, a region where there are large oil reserves. The satellite pictures also showed damage to oil storage tanks and manifolds in the state. In Jonglei state, the market in the capital, Bor, suffered significant damage as did homes in nearby villages, many of which were burned to the ground.
At least three aid workers have been killed so far. Dozens of humanitarian-aid compounds have been looted of supplies and dozens of their vehicles have been stolen.
Although the United Nations has not officially raised its estimate of the death toll, the organization said in a statement Sunday that interviews and investigations revealed “horrific allegations of atrocities by anti-government forces against civilians and surrendering soldiers, including summary executions, torture, sexual violence and ethnically targeted killing.”
The U.N. mission said it “deplores these horrendous acts of violence and utter disregard for human life and dignity.”
Diplomats from across the region and around the world have urged, cajoled and begged the two sides to negotiate a cease-fire, thus far to no avail. Over the weekend, the U.S. special envoy, Donald Booth, met with Machar at an undisclosed location. But there has been no breakthrough.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 01/15/2014