In an incident on July 11 also reported by the Associated Press news agency, HRW said the government troops carried out an assault at a residential compound housing worldwide organizations, where they killed a local Nuer journalist, raped or gang-raped several foreign women, and beat and robbed people. In addition, they raped several foreign women, singled out Americans, beat and robbed people and carried out mock executions.
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Henry from Human Rights Watch says the entire ordeal lasted about five hours and some victims were stranded at the hotel all night, despite their appeals for help from the nearby United Nations base.
But the mandate is certainly an improvement to the United Nations operation, notably in that the added troops will be deployed as a special protection unit with the power to engage any actor committing violence against civilians, including government forces.
South Sudanese government soldiers executed a journalist and gang-raped women when they overran a compound used by global organizations during fighting in the African nation’s capital last month, Human Rights Watch said. You’re helping the rebels.
“Everyone refused to go”.
Gian Libot, a Filipino citizen who was present during the attacks, recalled one of the soldiers specifically targeting Americans.
The U.N. decision was a reaction to days of fierce fighting in Juba, the country’s capital last month.
“With refugees fleeing South Sudan in their thousands, surrounding countries are straining under the weight of large numbers of displaced people and critically underfunded operations”, the UNHCR said in a statement on Monday.
“We kill you! We kill you!” the soldiers shouted, according to a Western woman in the bathroom.
The U.N. and USA embassies are accused of ignoring desperate pleas help, witnesses said.
“The unnatural reality of one country and two armies coexisting side by side is dysfunctional and already proven to be disastrous as we witnessed during July’s tragic events”, he said.
“We are here to tell the United Nations Security Council, who will decide tomorrow on a third force, please, to protect civilians, our women and children and men”, said Jasinta Elioba, a New York-based Sudanese-American human rights activist who has organized women’s groups to protest the violence. A private security firm rescued the rest the next morning.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power has requested an investigation as to why peacekeepers failed to respond, and has demanded “swift corrective action”.
But why didn’t the United Nations or the U.S. Embassy do anything to stop the attack?
US officials have “raised the incident” with senior officials in the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operation, said State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau. “The U.N., the USA embassy, contacting the specific battalions in the U.N., contacting specific departments”, said the woman raped by 15 men.
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According to Power, the USA embassy did respond to distress calls from the compound and coordinated a response with South Sudanese government officials. “We have called for accountability for those who are involved in the violence”.
