South Sudan: Investigate New Cluster Bomb Use - HRW

Washington — The governments of South Sudan and Uganda should investigate new evidence that banned cluster bombs have been used in the South Sudan conflict, Human Rights Watch said today.

United Nations (UN) experts found remnants of the weapons, including intact unexploded submunitions or "bomblets," in the week of February 7, 2014, near the town of Bor in an area not known to be contaminated by remnants prior to mid-December 2013.

"The young nation of South Sudan has enough problems without these horrific weapons, which kill and keep on killing long afterward," said Steve Goose, arms division director at Human Rights Watch and chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC). "The governments involved should quickly find out who is behind this and make clear they will be held responsible."

Since mid-December the town of Bor, the capital of Jonglei State, and the area around it have changed hands several times in clashes between government forces, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), and opposition forces loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar. The Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF) has been supporting South Sudan's government forces, including with air power.

The UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) found the cluster munition remnants by a stretch of road 16 kilometers south of Bor, which is 190 kilometers north of Juba, the capital.

According to UNMAS, the site was contaminated with the remnants of up to eight RBK-250-275 cluster bombs and an unknown quantity of AO-1SCh bomblets or submunitions, which are dropped by fixed wing aircraft or helicopters.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned this use of cluster bombs in the South Sudan conflict, but has not indicated who the UN believes was responsible.

South Sudanese and Ugandan forces possess the air power to deliver air dropped cluster munitions, such as the RBK-250-275 AO-1SCh cluster bomb, while the opposition forces are not believed to possess the means necessary to deliver these bombs.

The governments of South Sudan and Uganda should investigate the reported use of cluster bombs in South Sudan and make the results of those investigations public, Human Rights Watch said.